The Way It's Done
by Ijustwritehere
Summary: Sarah and Jareth fight the Labyrinth - and each other - in an effort to restore balance. Sarah's perspective.
1. Hardships Unnumbered

A/N: Hey y'all. I'm new to writing fanfic, so I spent a LOT of time trying to polish it as best I could. I hope anyone who reads it likes it! If you do, spread the word! If you hate it, uh… It's free! My internet is SUPER sketchy rn but I promise at LEAST one update a month (hopefully lots more)! If anyone reads this and wants to comment: sketchy internet connection + and I don't know how to respond yet but I read them and thank you in advance! And hey I dunno maybe someone out there has a question or wants to say something non-hateful? Maybe I misspelled sumthing or done did grammar bad! Apologies in advance for cliches, tropes, tired Labyrinth plotlines, over-used movie quotes from said movie, weird dialogue, cringe, and way too much words/ideas, etc. I think that covers all the bases. Anyways, have fun! (I hope. *wheezes*)

 **Hardships Unnumbered**

"And the prince and princess lived happily ever after!"

Sarah's heart skipped. Faltered.

 _(Oh no. No, no -)_

But she managed to step forward mechanically, willing back the tears she felt suddenly brimming in her eyes. The prince raised her hand in triumph, the crowd cheering as applause rang out. She was trying to hold her smile, but it slumped into a pained grimace, wilting; the prince's grip was the only thing keeping her upright -

 _(Come on, come on, please -)_

The blinding lights went out and the curtain fell.

"You ok, Sarah?"

The reassuring laugh she'd intended came out as a wheeze, and she turned to go, breath hitching in her lurching chest. She made it to the wings, leaning against the wall as the room began to spin in horrible familiarity.

"Yeah -" She choked out, voice stretched to an exaggerated positive. _(The play's ended but - just - just keep acting - come on -)_ "I just… I swear that lighting cue gets… Longer and longer every night!" She finished breathlessly.

Royals and peasants crowded about, exiting the stage, laughing, bubbling, _(breathing normally -)_

"Sarah? Come on. We're doing a cast party!" Knights and jesters drifted past her, laughing.

"Yeah, sure - I just have a little - little adrenaline rush - give me a sec." Sarah massaged her heart. Her squeezing, sputtering heart -

 _(No, no, it's not sputtering, it's not doing that - please please please - come on - not now - you're just panicking, your heart's fine, come on brain, come on it's ok snap out of it -)_

She gazed, unseeing, at the blurry floor.

 _(Come on - come on -)_

 _(- I'm dying help me. I'm dying. Help me. Someone please - please - help me -)_

 _(No, stop it, it's fine, you're fine -)_

 _(- I can't breathe I can't breathe help me, help me, anyone -)_

 _(No, no, shut up, shut_ up _, I just need to concentrate - friday, come on - you're gonna make it to friday - concentrate, Williams -)_

… But she couldn't. Statistics and facts of heart attacks and asphyxiation were the only things she could think about, the only things _to_ think about. Sarah stumbled further into the wings, away from people, sinking to the ground and curling into the curtains, shaking. It wasn't necessarily being onstage that made her do this, it wasn't the audience or stage fright… Tonight it had just been the line… The stupid, stupid line that she'd heard over and over again for at least a month now... But for some reason, tonight, it seemed brand new… Prince and Princess… _Happily ever after…_ In the black thick fabric, Sarah wheezed, massaging her heart, struggling to breathe, and wished it would all stop.

Later, at home, she laid in bed and stared at the ceiling, drained. But not completely; she had enough energy for insomnia and crying, apparently, the tears leaking from the corners of her exhausted eyes.

 _(Prince and Princess lived… Lived… Didn't think that was the phrase that would get me tonight. But it's always fun wondering when the next time I get to do my impression of a deflating water balloon is.)_

Crying in the dead of night wasn't ideal, but at least it meant she was breathing. She suppressed her sobs, managing to shake only slightly as her stomach growled and churned.

 _(Let's see… Face the ceiling, and feel my ribs poke out, or turn over and feel them poke in the mattress?)_

She turned to the side, her bony knees resting uncomfortably on top of each other.

 _(Oh, perfect. The third option, I'd forgotten sideways was uncomfortable too. Remember sleeping at night? Remember when I used to do that? Good times.)_

Actually… It was getting hard to remember. It was going on… A year? More? She didn't want to think about that.

( _Let's think about… Let's… Let's look at the box.)_

Sarah willed herself upright. She slunk off the bed to the ground in a huddle, reaching into the darkness underneath, pulling the box out. The cardboard was warped slightly on the sides, curving out from where her hands had grabbed it night after night. She removed the contents carefully, holding them all up, inspecting each one in the darkness as best she could, going through the list.

 _Crystals. Feathers. Bottlecaps. Candy. Snowglobe. Glitter, if that'll help - oh!_

Her bag. She'd forgotten, but earlier she'd found a few smooth rocks walking on campus, and they were hastily added to the pile. Rocks, and shells, foreign coins, strange twigs, some pressed flowers, a yoyo, more feathers, her fingers feeling the familiar shapes before the dim light caught them, mentally checking off each item, pulling them out and lining them up. She sighed as she reached the bottom - usually this… Well, the box didn't calm her, but it gave her a plan. The feeling of a plan. It helped - focus her. But tonight it was simply adding to her mental state, her mind screaming to recount and start over, to double, triple-check, every item to make absolutely sure -

Sarah sighed again, going backwards through the list as she replaced everything in the box, pushing it away before crawling into bed, her mind still racing, her body aching and dull.

 _(Those rocks were good. And on friday. Friday. I'll probably have a few more things to add. Like the eggs, the salt, the bowl -)_

 _(The bowl! Did I check the bowl!?)_

She bolted up. She'd been so out of it coming home after that disaster of a run -

 _(How could you forget. How. How. How. Please - maybe - this time -)_

Heart was beating too fast again, threatening to skip, adrenaline flooding her. _S_ he threw herself out of bed, going downstairs as fast and silently as possible. Outside, the rain poured down.

 _(Rain - just like the first time you - no, no, don't jinx it -)_

She didn't stop for shoes as she ran outside, looking - looking - there -

The dog bowl under the porch. It was filled with food; it was always full now. Her tears joined the raindrops as she picked it up, throwing the remains into the bushes, slowly taking it back inside. Karen had left dinner wrapped up in the fridge, and Sarah began to fill the bowl mechanically. Not that she could eat it. She tried not to gag as she dumped the food in, tried not to think about the steak -

 _(Smells like grease. Grease and death and dirt, dull and grey and -)_

The rice -

 _(Sticky, clinging to my fingers, slimy, rotting and cloying and - I can't believe I used to love rice -)_

Or the single squishy broccoli, which finally forced her to gag. Sarah gripped the edge of the counter; there was nothing to throw up, nothing but bile and then eventually blood, but the nausea rippled through her. A few tense moments, and then her stomach growled pitifully.

"Trust me, you couldn't handle this right now even if I could eat."

She went back outside, replacing the now-full bowl, then dragged herself slowly upstairs, the coo-coo clock in the hall ticking silently, a quarter to 4. She was soaked and freezing from the rain; she should shower. Sarah groaned at the thought, but forced herself to get in, the water's heat steaming against the glass and her skin, but shivering in spite of it. She showered slowly. She did everything slowly now; exhaustion was her only energy level. She finally finished, still cold, pulling on her shirt, pausing as she caught sight of herself in her mirror. Even in the shadows of the dark, what was visible of her body scared her. Skin dry, pale and patchy, and her hair hung, no longer curly, not even wavy. Now it was just limp, clinging to her head, and all of it brittle. Her body was covered in bruises, ranging from yellow to a dark purple. A lack of iron, as well as copious other vitamins she should be taking, but didn't.

 _Couldn't._

Worst of all was… Her. Skeletal and tiny. Knees protruding at angles, wrists impossibly tiny for her hands, which hung limply, like oversized catcher's mitts. Jutting collar bones only demonstrated the shortness of breath as her chest hitched up and down. Her face looked haunted _-_

 _\- it is -_

\- dark circles above sunken cheeks and a smile that was too tight.

 _I'm dying._

The thought was too common. It wasn't intrusive; it was simply always present, waiting, at the back of her mind. It was the last thing when she fell asleep, it was the first when she woke. People whispered it when she walked, Karen and Toby and her father could all see her fading away -

 _(No they don't. No you're not. No - no - no -)_

\- but she was. She felt it in her cold bones. The draining energy, her desperation, her appetite, the absence to feel any kind of emotion beyond fear and anxiety as she clawed at a sign, anything, _anything_ that would -

 _(Don't do this. And it's not a good idea to look at yourself in bad lighting. Or lack thereof.)_

"Because regular light doesn't show any of this at all, does it?" Sarah muttered, climbing into bed.

It was the mirror.

 _(I used to look amazing in that mirror… Now it just reminds me of… Of them.)_

 _(No, don't… Don't think about that…)_

 _(I'm dying… Help me… I need you…)_

She sank into a dream of pacing a dark and dusty pit, forgotten and alone…

 _It had started a few years ago. Sarah had had friends. Sarah had had magic._

 _Since she'd beaten the Labyrinth, things were… Different. No, that wasn't the right word - changed. She was changed. She was mature, caring, and she was more… Aware. Of herself, of the world - and the world beyond the world. She'd seen Ludo, Hoggle, Didymus and others constantly. They followed her at school, at home, they tried to help with homework (some of the goblins had eaten it on a few occasions as well, but they tried). They sang her songs to sleep, they woke her in the morning, they protected and guarded Toby (though she usually checked in on them while they did - she'd once caught the stupider goblins trying to teach him to say the word "wish"). Sarah was never late, never got wet when it rained, never got sick… They were her friends. Sir Didymus would "escort" her to school in full armor, Hoggle would help her cook or garden, Ludo and the rest helped with chores - and Sarah was… Happy._

 _And, of course, wordlessly… He was always close. Always near. Not lurking, just… Present, somehow. She'd see something in the corner of her eye, find a blonde hair floating around the room, glitter on one of her books, she hear his laugh in her ear, or smell something - something like rain and old books and - electricity - and then it would be gone. When questioned, the goblins would swear it was them, but Sarah knew. Sometimes she'd see his face in the crowd for just a second, or a certain song would repeat on the radio in a row. And every so often at night, she'd hear the screech of an owl outside her window. They never spoke. He didn't terrify her, but she was still… Apprehensive. And very careful of saying the word 'wish'. But he was... Intriguing, despite her best efforts to push the thought aside. A mystery - a dangerous mystery - but one that she still wanted to solve._

 _And her dreams… She hadn't had a nightmare since she'd gotten Toby back, and while she never remembered the details of them, she always woke feeling... Happy. Sometimes, in a quiet moment at school, or when she wasn't thinking, a memory from one would blossom up suddenly - flashes of color, a faint melody - a feeling of being weightless, floating - and then it was gone._

 _And then there was the mirror - it had shown up on her birthday some years ago. Simply appeared, and neither Karen nor her father questioned it. Toby knew something was off, but he simply stared at it for a moment before going back to his room to play, leaving Sarah to gape at it in shock. It was huge. Silver and ornate, its frame containing tiny intricate flowers, leaves, roots, branches and other plants. At the top, perching on top of an acorn, wings outstretched, was an owl, of course. Hoggle had explained it made a better portal for them than her desk mirror, but Sarah had known it was a lot of care and… Thought, perhaps, that had been put into it to simply be "just" a magic doorway. She always looked amazing in that mirror. Well, once she'd dyed her hair pink and her reflection had gone all blotchy and then she'd woken up the next morning with the goblins trying to eat it, calling her "Candy Floss lady" and she'd promptly dyed it back that afternoon. But that was one time. Until…_

 _Until last year. Until something happened. Sarah didn't know what. It was almost another birthday, she'd been sleeping and then…_

 _She was suddenly awake in the dark, the coo-coo clock ringing out downstairs, and the noise filled the house and her mind. She'd stared at her ceiling, and felt very cold, and then very wrong. The mirror was dull. No goblins responded to her call, nor Ludo, nor Hoggle, nor Didymus. Toby had woken up crying, and Sarah had told him not to panic, that it would be fine, but it wasn't fine. It was empty, it was hollow, and there was simply… Nothing. Flat mirror, no messages, clues left behind, no matter how hard she wished. And then prayed. And then, eventually, began to beg. She'd even left her window open one night, hoping to hear an owl, but she'd awoken cold and still alone, with Karen yelling at her about the heater and thermometer prices during winter._

 _Then, Sarah started to get sick. Really sick. At first, it was just her energy and then her sudden insomnia, but she blamed that on… On them leaving. Which, understandably, made her sad. And angry. And then just… Flat. Nothing. Sarah was simply… Floating through her life, waiting. For an answer, a response, something, anything. And when more time passed, and still there were no answers, she got worse. Suddenly she… Couldn't seem to stomach food. Karen thought it was an allergy, but now - Sarah had heard her discussing it once privately - she thought it was an eating disorder, or possibly a nervous breakdown. Sarah thought it was closer to the latter. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, she was - desperately - but her appetite was just… Gone. Any food that she did force down instantly made her nauseous and dizzy. She could drink juices, some tea or coffee, some soups - and - occasionally - fruit (never peaches) - but anything beyond that she threw up, violently. And still she floated, waiting. Waiting and wasting and wishing._

 _Had she done something wrong? Wished them away in her sleep or subconsciously? Had..._ He _… Decided they no longer needed to be involved in her life? Were they in trouble? Did they need help? Or - and this was the thought Sarah liked least, and so she thought it the most - had he... Gotten tired of her?_

 _So, without any answers or options or sleep, Sarah had begun to read. She'd begun to research. She'd always been pretty familiar with fairy tales even before the Labyrinth, but now she studied religiously for something, anything that could help her bring them back, fix whatever was wrong, reverse the curse, or - or whatever had happened. She read and read - fairy tales, folk lore, myths, legends from around the world, everything from her childhood, Wizard of Oz, Grimm's, The Five Children and It, any book she could, any story she found. She'd also started collecting - constantly looking for things, things a goblin (or perhaps… An owl) might like, shiny glittery jewelry, plastic beads, rocks and pennies on the ground, bits of tin foil, Toby's baby teeth, things that caught her eye, that were mentioned in books and might help, Sarah collected and saved. It was an obsession, but she used it as a distraction. She walked to school in the rain, in the snow, in the wind, hunting with her eyes for anything that she could use to - to attract, to call, to summon, even. Collected, gathered, read, collected, gathered, read, again and again until it wasn't a habit, it was her life. She read and she studied and she threw herself into acting roles - any role - but mostly she committed to the role of Sarah - smiling and happy and not paranoid. Sarah, who didn't flinch at the word "wish", who didn't jump at small noises or shadows, who didn't race to the door when it rang, who didn't cry herself to sleep because -_

 _Because she was alone, and she could feel herself slipping away, piece by piece, inch by inch. Because she didn't get to say goodbye. She didn't know how to help her friends, or herself, or how to get back to something that shouldn't have technically existed in the first place. Her dreams became running, endlessly, throughout constantly changing passages, and no matter how fast or smart she was, she was always shut out. And alone._

 _She'd been doing well - ok, not well, but she'd been - holding it together, as best she could - until one day - Sir Didymus appeared. But - and Sarah had burst out crying on that day - he wasn't right. It was him but - he was a dog. A very fox-like dog, a terrier, one that stood oddly still, watching her, but a silent dog nonetheless. She'd tried everything to talk to him. Nothing worked. He simply appeared, ate, and stared at her until he'd leave. Then, on another day, he disappeared completely. And Sarah couldn't keep up the act anymore. She stopped trying. She couldn't breathe right, she developed tics and was constantly anxious. Panic attacks weren't frequent, they were regular. Her heartbeat was always in her ears, she could barely focus, she cried -_

 _And she didn't know how long she could survive like this._


	2. Fought My Way Back

A/N: Hey y'all! I haven't figured out how to respond to questions/comments yet but thank you to everyone that's followed so far and left lovely notes! High-fives all round! Here's chapter 2, and a few clarifying points if you wanted them: 1. Sarah's current age is unstated - she's definitely 18 and above, let's get that out of the way right now, but she could be older! It's up to the reader. 2. I know these first two chapters are a bit of a downer, but I wanted to make sure she had a solid character base/background so we know what's up with her. Not the most fun to read + it's VERY expositional, but… Uh yeah free content so at least there's that, and it'll pick up _very_ soon! 3. Sarah's hair is curly in this! It's not a big thing but I always thought it was a little _too_ straight in the film, and during the dance scene she wasn't really in control of her appearance or surroundings, so it made sense that maybe Jareth preferred her hair natural and Sarah just straightened it on her own... I could be wrong, but I thought that hey, maybe she had curly hair, and then I went with it. It won't be a big factor in the story, I mean I mention it a lot but no plot hinges on it. You can pretend it's straight if you prefer!

 **Fought My Way Back**

Sarah woke up at 5 am, her stomach growling in hunger.

As it always did.

She waited for the wave of emptiness to ride itself out, her stomach churning along with the storm outside. It was particularly bad this night. What could be upsetting it, the thought of the ever-full bowl of food? The rain? Her earlier episode, carried over beyond a shallow hour of rest? She gave up on sleep, going back downstairs to check the bowl again. Just in case.

 _Just in case, somehow, Didymus had come back, through the rain and the wind, to eat soggy steak and rice in the dead hours of the morning?_

 _(This is what it's like to go insane - no sleep, barely food, and isolated relationships -)_

 _(Stop it. Come on, Williams. You've got a plan. A plan is a chance. You've got shot, haven't you?)_

"Am I going to make it that long?" She whispered in the dark. Last night had been particularly bad. At least she'd made it offstage, but how long until she couldn't breathe during a performance, during a class, while driving, while -

And the plan. The plan wasn't a plan, it was a hope, a prayer, riding on nothing, no rules or concrete specifics, it was going to war with a pin. It was going into a dark storm with a match, it was -

 _(A spell cast by you, a human? A dying human, and a crude spell at that? Please. It's not a spell, it's a recipe you copy-pasted together from every book and tale you read and re-read -)_

 _(Stop)_

Sarah trudged back to her room, going to the box. The plan wasn't much, it was a scrap of an idea, but it was better than laying around and wasting away. She pulled the box out, her fingers dimly illuminated by the outside sky. Carefully sifting through, feeling each one, going through the list, making sure they were all there, as she'd done a hundred times, a thousand, her mind reeling.

 _(Go through the plan. Next Friday, Karen and Dad will be out, the play will be done, and I'm babysitting Toby, just like I did when… When… And I just need a few more things… I'll get out of the play, and come straight home… Come straight home and try… Friday… Friday… Friday…)_

Her eventual sleep was shallow, and in it she was trapped in a darkness, struggling for air to cry for help, knowing there was no one to hear her.

 _"_ _Sarah!"_

Sarah woke with a groan. She hadn't really been sleeping, but whatever it had been was better than facing the day. Karen's voice drifted from upstairs.

"Sarah hon - Director called - he wants you at early rehearsal. I'm leaving for work. There's breakfast downstairs."

"Mmph." Sarah groaned, her throat feeling like gravel.

A thick smoke of oily bacon found its way to her nose and her stomach quaked. She didn't even want to think of the words "eggs". Early rehearsal gave her something to do besides avoiding breakfast, but it also involved interacting with others… She sighed, getting dressed.

Rehearsals were awful, as usual. The director yelled at nothing in particular, and she had no energy. The jester whined about not having enough lines, attitudes ran high and patience ran low. Two people asked if she were getting sick, and her "No" wasn't technically a lie if she'd been sick for - … How many months was it now?

 _(Don't think about months. Don't think about weeks. Think about days. Friday. That's all that matters. Friday.)_

She hid in a coffeeshop after rehearsal, texting Karen that she was with friends so she could skip dinner. Some girls ordering lattes were obnoxiously loud, giggling and screaming at the counter. Her temples ached.

( _God I want them to shut up. By any means necessary.)_

It was a bitter thought, but her head hurt too much for this.

 _(Was I like that at their age? I mean…)_

They screeched, cackling obnoxiously at nothing. Sarah glared.

 _(I wish they'd -)_

She realized the thought and jolted suddenly, the word was there, it was there and she'd thought it. Her stomach dropped.

 _(Fuck! Fuck! No -)_

Her coffee hit the floor, which at least silenced the screeching as they stared at her. Sarah froze, in a panic, trying not to completely lose it.

"S- Sorry -" She started, reeling.

 _(No, no I didn't mean wish, I didn't mean wish, I don't wish it, I - that - I didn't finish that sentence - I - I didn't wish -)_

She watched her mess, distant. An employee was saying something, but she couldn't hear properly - now everyone was staring, a few napkins extended. A rush of words were suddenly overwhelming her, thoughts pounding, and Sarah grabbed her head, trying to shut them out but they were there, a swarm, and they were a thousand voices stronger than her own.

 _(Remember when you used to use that word all the time, Sarah? I wish I wish I wish if wishes were fishes I wish my brother would go I wish you were never born I wish the Goblin King I wish I wish I wish I knew the words_ - _)_

" _Stop it."_ She tried to keep her voice quiet.

 _(What else did you wish for Sarah?)_

 _"_ _Stop -"_

 _(Did you wish away your real friends? Did you wish away your playworld? Did you wish and wish and wish until your star faded out or he stopped listening or did you wish you could stop wishing -)_

 _"_ _No!"_ She stumbled backwards, half-falling to the ground. She could feel the eyes on her, but she couldn't do anything -

 _(I didn't wish away my friends I wished_ for _them to come back I wished harder than anything that they'd - come back - help - I wish I wish I wish I wish I -)_

Someone grabbed her arm. Someone asked if she needed help. Napkins were brandished with more vigor. Sarah made a noise and stumbled to the door. The world was too dark and too bright, an infinity of noise behind a crushing silence and her heart was in her chest. It was beating and every beat was a wish and a clock, a clock that was ticking down until she didn't have any more beats left and didn't have any more wishes and she was alone, dying -

She spent two hours walking, scanning the ground, looking, picking up rocks and twigs and exhausting herself until the barrage of voices in her mind became a whispering mass of echoes. Eventually, she made her way back to the car and drove home to the darkened house. Karen had left her food out, as always. Sarah checked the dog bowl, emptied and refilled it, as always. She dragged upstairs and cried herself to sleep.

 _(As always.)_

The week inched by. Sarah sat in her community college classes - mostly art and acting, she couldn't handle homework from much else - and stared at the clock.

( _Reordering time didn't seem like such a bad idea now, eh?)_

 _(Shut up)_

Her weekend shows were awful, but so was the script. She managed to hold it together onstage, though the director repeatedly described her performance as "tense". Wind and overcast skies didn't help her state of mind, and the icy breeze felt like it was going into and through her, even as she wrapped layer after layer, shivering. She was always cold now, but this week it felt deeper, chilling her blood. The week trickled forward, she couldn't stop staring into the mirror, trying not to hope, but looking for anything… A flash, a movement, a sign that she was on the right track, doing the right thing… But she only saw a ghost looking back at her. Pallid skin, her eyes dark and lifeless, hair uncombed and her body - she stopped looking. She was so pale now that she could see veins under the surface, blue and twisting, and it made her think of -

( _Of vampires, ghouls, ghosts, zombies, dead creatures, dead and in the ground, rotting and wasting away, just like you're doing, you're rotting, you're wasting, you're lifeless and you're dying -)_

 _-_ Sarah pulled out the box to sift through, and prayed for it to be friday.

And then it was. It was friday, it was the second act, 10 pm, and Sarah was a wreck.

It didn't sound like 'a slight breeze and rain' outside, it sounded like a storm trying to do its best hurricane impression, the wind whistling. Power had already gone out twice, her scene partner trying cover with some half-assed improvisation about a witch who'd cast a spell of darkness. There wasn't even a witch in the play, but it didn't matter - half of the small audience had left at intermission, and her focus had gone with them.

( _What time is it?)_

Sarah pealed back her purple sleeve to check her watch. 10:11. The play ended at 10:20, she was supposed to stay and clean up, but not tonight. The king's monologue droned on and on -

( _Is he going slower than normal? Jesus. 10:15.)_

 _-_ was it her cue yet? The stupid princess didn't have to worry about a storm, or a plan, one that she'd spent months -

 _(Was it only months…? How many months had it really been -)_

 _(A year… At least a whole -)_

\- creating. The princess's stomach probably wasn't rolling, either. Sarah deeply regretted the multiple drinks she'd had earlier - kombucha, juice, coffee -

( _Focus, Williams. Come on.)_

The wind slammed tree branches into the window. She'd changed into act 2's costume - it was a lilac thing, puffy and petal-like at the same time, with a cheap material that made her sweaty and cold all at once. 10:17. This was it. She was on, speaking, the dialog stilted - she felt the panic begin to surround her in a cloud, her voice becoming tight and small, whiney in response, pre-recorded - she sounded like a robot. They were almost at the end of the play, there was the horrible fake trumpet recording - but she couldn't focus. The wind was roaring, she couldn't even hear her words, and the stage lights were so bright -

( _Is it time? What time is it?)_

"And so…" Began the prince.

( _Is it 10:20? I have to go - right after my line_ \- _wait, my line - is - that's my cue, oh my god what's my_ _line_ - _)_

What - what was her - the panic was there, the panic had always been there, but she was it, she was panic, her blood was pounding along with the storm, heart was beating like a clock, a clock that said it was too late, too late to live, she'd missed the time and she'd missed the slot and the chance was gone, gone and forgotten and - and it was hard to breathe - she needed to - to -

"I said, AND SO - "

Sarah was frozen. Something felt horribly empty - her mouth was open, hands outstretched to nothing. The prince was coughing loudly. The world held on her words - she felt despair - empty, overwhelming despair -

"And… _And so…_ "

Her watch went off. She didn't remember setting an alarm, but it was time. The jester saw his moment, screaming "AND SO THEY MARRIED AND LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!" at the top of his lungs, and Sarah bolted.

"What - Sarah, wait!"

People were calling after her but she couldn't hear them. She grabbed her bag - her watch was beeping, there were voices, but she paid no attention. Her heart was beating with the alarm and the storm roared along with both, a rumble of panic and _hurry hurry hurry_ and Sarah didn't feel ready. She ripped the crown from her head, tearing off her dress, pulling on her shirt, stuffing everything in her bag, sprinting out the door, feet slipping on the wet concrete, wind smacking into her. Splashed to her car, her already short breath now completely cut off in the cold. She ripped her bag open - _keys - keys - keys -_ went through it again - _come on -_ felt her pockets, and pulled them out, cursing.

( _Cursing is good. Cursing means I can breathe.)_

She forced herself to drive slowly -

( _God so slowly - so slowly - the wind is blowing faster than me - what does the clock say - 10:40 Jesus Christ 10 more minutes come on come on -__

Sarah peeled into the driveway, sprinted up the walk, and burst into the house.

"Sarah!?" Karen came around the corner. "Are you alright!? We weren't expecting you for another -"

"I - I'm fine! I'm great. Hey. Hi. Hi. Great. How's Toby?"

"He's - he's asleep, he's fine - like always - how did the play go? Is everything ok? Why are you -"

 _(Please, not this concerned interrogation please Karen, not tonight -)_ She forced a smile. "It - the power went out. Twice."

"Oh my god! Are you ok? Nothing -"

The smile tightened on her lips. "I'm fine! Just go!"

"The taxi will be here in 15 minutes -"

 _15 minutes!?_ Sarah's heart sank. 11:05. If they left immediately - ( _No time no time tick tick tick - stop it -)_ "Oh - ok. Yeah. Sure. Sure. How's Toby?" The smile hurt her face.

"… Still fine. Still Asleep. There's food in the kitchen -"

She stared blankly as Karen talked through a checklist, inwardly screaming _get out get out get out._ She even tried to shove some kind of horrible casserole down her throat in an effort to prove to Karen that everything _was_ fine, fine and good and Karen could leave now, really, and - Sarah's father walked in, giving her a kiss on the head. She jumped.

"Hey sweetie."

"Taxi's going to be about another 10." Karen remarked, checking her phone, lips pursed. "Probably the storm -"

Sarah choked on the casserole. _10 minutes!?_ The clock now read 11:15, add ten minutes to that plus the prep time - she glared at the storm outside. Was this some kind of sign? Was she supposed to wait? Supposed to - her stomach clenched in panic, and Sarah excused herself to the bathroom upstairs, heaving up the inedible casserole.

( _To be fair, I probably wouldn't have been able to stomach that even if I weren't having a nervous breakdown. Who puts broccoli and salmon together, Karen?)_

She ran back downstairs, trying her best to look healthy.

"Ok, Sarah. The taxi's here. The list is there. We'll back tomorrow, the sitter will come in the morning for Toby so you can get to rehearsal - call us if -"

"OkIknowthankyoubesafehaveagoodtrip." She did her best to give them a hug and shove them out of the door at the same time -

And then they were gone. Now.

Her stomach sank - It was 11:30 -

 _tick tick tickticktick_ went her heart, starting to speed - _no, no, come on, save the adrenaline, you've got to work._

Sarah ran outside, grabbed the bowl, hurling the contents and gathered rainwater far away into the storming darkness. Skidded back inside, dripping, rummaging through the cupboards and fridge, grabbing saffron, eggs, salt and sugar, then the clocks - all of them. The coo-coo, digital alarm, her father's watch, Karen's timer - the grandfather clock was unmovable, so with a last desperate glance she took what she had and sprinted upstairs to her room, hurling herself onto the carpet, grasping under her bed for the box. It was now filled to the brim and rather heavy, but she grabbed it, balancing as she ran to her parent's room.

 _(Ok, right here - I think - is where -)_

She carefully released her arms. Sarah had read and read about folklore and fairy tales, and while she wasn't sure what would work, she had an idea. If the Labyrinth wouldn't come to her, she would come to it. Or… Something like that.

She had no idea what she was doing.

( _It's a spell, or an enchantment, or a - I just need to - to open something. To create a door, or a gate, or a portal, or - anything - I just need to get to the Labyrinth - this will work this will work please -)_

Sarah emptied the box, throwing down crystals, feathers, thimbles, jewels. Rings, plastic jewelry, herbs, and candy, scattering about haphazardly. Locks of Toby's hair, her hair, batteries, dried flowers, bread, whiskey, cheese. She wasn't being careful but this wasn't about precision - salt, sugar, the egg, sprinkled the saffron, coins, some stuffed animals, and threw Didymus's bowl onto the ground for good measure. She tried to arrange everything in a sort of spiraled circle, but it was already 11:50 and she didn't have time to fuss, lighting a few candles and sage with shaking hands. Ok. She was forgetting something. _Shit._ Her bag.

She sprinted back down the hall to her room, snatching it from the chair.

( _I packed this before, right? Yeah. Sewing kit, pocket knife… Paper, pencil… Candybar… Ok, whatever. It's fine. 11:53.)_

She paused before the mirror one more time.

"Mirror mirror, on the - … Carpet… - Who's the fairest of them all?" _(Definitely not the face staring back at it.)_ "Guys? Anyone?"

The only thing that met her queries was silence.

( _Well, it was worth a try.)_

"I'm coming." Sarah pressed her hand to the glass and then went to Toby's room, pausing at the doorframe. "I'll - I - I - hope I won't be right back. _"_ She whispered into the darkness. A light snore greeted her in response. 11:55.

 _Shit._

She burst back into the bedroom, unlatching the big window, the cold wind blowing in, rain and tree bits flying inside.

 _(Should've grabbed a coat. Oh well. Here goes.)_

She stumbled back to the circle of now-damp objects, hurriedly putting a dream catcher on one wrist, holding a candle in the other, her bag slung about her shoulders. Carefully, she grabbed the small kitchen knife, slicing her finger open, then switched the candle so she could prick her opposite hand with a needle.

 _(Ow! Fuck. This better be worth it.)_

11:58. Her chest felt like it was going to explode.

 _(I really hope this does work, or Karen's going to kill me)  
(It will. This is the exact date, at the exact time that you wished Toby away, you didn't know what you were doing then, and you don't know what you're doing now, but it _will _work.)_

 _(He can't say no to a wish like this.)_

" _Ok."_ She breathed into the swirling wind. " _I can bear it no longer."_

Shivering with anticipation and cold, her body started to lock up, but Sarah forced the words out:

"Goblin King, Goblin King! Wherever you may be, take - me - take me - away… From here! … Please."

She opened an eye - still in the room. Had she said the right words?

 _(I wish I knew what to say I wish I knew what to say this isn't working shit shit shit come on remember remember-)_

She scanned her mind. Nothing, nothing, words, swirling fragments of memories and her ticking heartbeat alone, alone and pounding in her ears -

" _Shit!_ "

She'd forgotten one more thing, the most obvious and essential thing, words, the right ones, and she tried to think as she grabbed a ball of string, just in case, twisting it around her hands securely.

 _Think._

"Um… I…"

It was cloudy, and there weren't any stars. There wasn't even a moon. She squinted through the rain and wind, guessing where it'd be in the sky.

 _The moon was a star, technically, wasn't it?_

Sarah closed her eyes, and _wanted._

"I wish the Goblins would take me away. Right now."

She threw the string.

The air was cold, and the rain _flooded_. The string was limp in her hand, the flickering candle smelled of "Sea Foam" and the sage was sputtering in the heavy wind. Sarah stood, her left arm desperately holding candles and sage, right outstretched with the string, dreamcatcher thrashing in the wind. Her legs awkwardly bent apart, feet trying to touch everything in the circle at once and support herself at the same time, hair was whipped around her face, wet limp tendrils slapping her skin. The storm raged, tearing at the curtains, blowing papers and the feathers and anything that wasn't nailed down. The ball of string spiked in the air, through the window, and fell into the night. Sarah waited.

Nothing felt different. She didn't want to open her eyes, not yet, so she screwed them shut even harder, breath held. She could feel the room, the carpet beneath her feet, could smell the same scents, which meant - she hadn't moved. She stayed that way as long as she could, tense and hunched, and then the wind kicked up another notch and she stumbled, buffered by it, her eyes opening. Rain mixed, for the second time that week, with her tears. The windows snapped open and shut against the storm, string limply hanging outside, gently swinging in the gale.

 _(No, please - please - please let something be different, let something work, please -)_

 _(Help me.)_

She let the tears run out, hot droplets against the cold rain hitting her skin, the windows crashing open and shut, open and - that glass was going to break at this rate, she should close the window, but she couldn't move, just staring. Watching dully, her heart not faltering or skipping, just… Slowing. Sinking. The storm pounded at the floor, the curtains, the windows, pelting them with raindrops.

Raindrops. Sarah squinted, blinking out blurry tears. Raindrops…

On the glass…

The drops running, down. And up. Sideways and in circles and squares, and arranging themselves - into - into -

 _A very familiar pattern._

And then.

Sarah felt the breath pulled from her lungs. The room _tilted,_ and she watched the perfectly-made bed slope, not a gold pillow amiss, the desk, the stacked papers and blue fountain pens, the painting of poppies, the LED tv and the wireless remote all lean forward, but unmoving, frozen, as the rest of her objects began to be affected by the new center of gravity. They scattered, the circle sliding forward as a whole, crystals and coins and clocks ticking and clattering. She was moving, tipping forward with them, her feet skidding down the now-60 degree angled carpet. The pit of her stomach dropped, there was nothing to grab on to, she would fall - the string suddenly twitched, then _pulled_ , sliding almost through her fingers and she grabbed it with both hands as she was yanked - _wrenched_ \- through the air, right to the open window frame, and suddenly the wind was pulling at her, pushing her, and she was toppling, losing her balancing, falling out of the horizontal window, there was the garden, she was falling, falling into -

Into the ground of the backyard which came up to meet her, the black wet grass splitting apart, the rose bushes sprouting, growing at angles, they were too sharp and too angular. Twisting and turning and she was being pulled into a hole, a hole in the ground which was assembling all around her into a pattern, _that_ pattern, and Sarah had no control so she closed her eyes…

… And fell back Underground.


	3. My Kingdom as Great

_"_ _HEAVE! AGGHHHHHH!"_

Sarah _slammed_ into stone and wood as objects reigned down on her, crunching and breaking. She felt the egg, in particular, explode onto her elbow. Things continued to fall - the sage landed close to her face, followed by a yoyo, several books on her back, and some of the clocks, with a splintering and cracking. She heard glass shatter somewhere off to her right, but it sounded warbly, her ears ringing as noise swam in and out. She didn't even bother opening her eyes. Everything was muffled, dark, and painful. She just stayed perfectly still - if she'd fallen out of her own window, faking death would be a good strategy so that Karen wouldn't kill her for destroying the garden and bedroom.

"I think it's dead." A voice.

" _She."_ A second voice.

" _She_ thinks it's dead."

"No, you idiot -"

Scuffling sounds broke out somewhere to her right. Sarah lay, motionless. Most of her hurt. Her elbow hurt _and_ felt slimy.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

Was she breathing? How did she breathe again? She let out a wheeze.

"Poke it."

 _Please don't._

A rock hit her head. She tried to let out a groan. There wasn't any air to do so. How did she inflate her lungs? What was inhaling? She couldn't…

"What part of _poke_ was too hard to understand!?" The second voice sounded thin on patience.

"The rock poked it!"

There was a grunt of agreement from something. Sarah didn't have the strength to open her eyes, and besides, she didn't want to see if she'd failed…

"Make way! Posthaste, you fools! I shall interrogate this enemy until it reveals its secrets!" A new third voice trilled.

 _(I don't have the air to do that -)_ Something poked her head again.

"Awaken, strange beast! Reveal yourself, intruder! Encroacher!"

The poking turned into whacking. Sarah tried again to groan, without success.

The first voice sounded deep in thought. "It's dead. It's bleeding out, lookit its elbow."

"That's not blood! You live with chickens! How'd you not know what the difference is between blood and an egg!?"

Under the heated debate the whacking continued. Sarah tried to telepathically communicate with the voice at the end of the stick.

 _(Please stop - ow - that's my hair - it's going to -)_

"Good heavens! RELEASE MY WEAPON, YOU VILE GORGON!"

Her hair had gotten tangled in said weapon. The whacking stopped - only to reverse into pulling. She managed a muffled "Agh", but it was drowned out by the shrieks of the stick-holder.

"HELP! IT'S SWALLOWED MY WEAPON! AMBROCIOUS! SIC!"

 _(Ambro- ?)_

The yanking increased. This was almost more painful than smashing into the ground. She tried to move a finger. It hurt, but it moved.

"At least the dead one brought presents. I found a yoyo!" The first voice sounded impressed.

"IT'S A TRAP! IT'S HERE TO STEAL OUR REMAINING RESOURCES! LIKE MY WEAPO-" Trilled voice number three.

A final voice, gravelly and sounding tired, interrupted. "Just - stop that! I'll cut it loose."

 _(Ok, time to move. No one cuts my hair.)_ With a groan, Sarah raised both her hands and pushed up. Screams broke out from beyond her. _(That's it. You're almost 30 degrees. Just another 60, and you'll be sitting on whatever bones you have left in your hip.)_

Her head was pulled sideways suddenly; the weapon holder wasn't releasing his claim on the stick without a fight.

"Ow!" Sarah yanked back, trying to untangle herself while remaining upright.

"FIEND! FOE! HORROR! EGG-BLEEDING CREATURE FROM DARKNESS! VANQUISH THINE HOLD!"

"OW! Stop - I _can't!_ You're pulling -"

Her view was obscured by hair. _(I survived the fall, only to be attacked by a stick. What a way to go.)_

 _(No. Not like this! Get off!)_

She fought a rather painful tug-of-war until finally the stick was released. Silence. She tried to sweep her mane back and succeeded in getting a lot of it in her mouth. She choked slightly, spitting, and then finally looked up.

And there they were.

She breathed in - that - that _scent - like an old book - and dust - and electricity - autumn - smoke -_

Words escaped her. Tears, however, didn't, her vision becoming blurry. She choked again, this time on the lump in her throat -

Hoggle. Ludo. Sir Didymus. A sea of goblin faces, some still holding onto the string. They stared at her. She continued to cry.

 _(Damnit - just - focus - come on - stop -)_

But an underlying thought that cut through her sadness and relief and panic, most of all - _I did it._

Finally Hoggle spoke. "It's a banshee. Kill 'er."

He turned his back and started walking away. A few dozen swords, axes, spears, and chickens were lowered in her general direction. Sarah concentrated on sobbing out something that would veto this option.

"Hog- Hog-" She began. He paused.

"Knows your name!" A nearby goblin squeaked.

He didn't turn around. "Lucky guess."

" _Hog… Gle."_ Sarah tried again. Nothing. " _It's me."_

A few of the goblins scratched their heads and screwed up their faces. "Can't 'member anyone by the name of Me." Several grunts in agreement. "Kill it."

Sadness and relief were quickly switching over to just panic. "It's - it's - it's -" Her chest hitched up and down too fast. " _Sarah."_

 _That's about all the words I've got._

Hoggle turned. "Can't be. Impossible."

Another goblin agreed. "Ya don't look like her!"

 _Get your hair out of your face, idiot._

Her hands were shaky, she tried to adjust herself so they could see her better. _"It's - it's - it's S-S - Sarah, Hoggle - and - and - S- S- Sir - Didymus - and - and - Lu - Lu - Do - o - o -"_ Her stupid voice dissolved again into breaking cries.

Hoggle took a few steps back, standing with the goblins to watch her, face hard and unfeeling. "You. Ain't. Her." Sarah managed a nod in disagreement. He scowled. "Prove it."

 _(What? How? How can I - I don't - I - um… Think. Think. What do I know about Hoggle. That only I would know. Shit. Um… Wait.)_ She threw up her arm. The goblins tensed, as she pointed at her wrist, then herself

"P- p- p- present. Mine." Her sobs were drying up, finally freeing her voice a bit. She dropped her hand. "H- Hoggle, I gave you a - a bracelet."

The goblins swung their focus back to him. His free hand drifted towards his wrist.

"Doth it speak the truth, Sir Hoggle?" Even Didymus was watching him carefully.

"I - er - so what! Maybe she saw it as I was walking away! Proves nothin'!" He flapped his hand in mistrust.

She tried again. "No. I didn't - see it. I _gave_ it to you. When I was... 16, because… I needed to get through the Labyrinth. You - you traded me jewels, and - and - gave me a peach by accident and - and - and - we're - we were - friends -"

He just stared at her, scowling now, then wordlessly to looked back at the crowd.

"Imposter. Hoggle, it cannot be. Mayhap she's simply heard the legends. We'll get the truth out of this wailing ghoul -" Didymus growled, taking a step towards Sarah, stick raised and nostrils flaring. Then paused. "It -" He sniffed, faltering. "It -" His stick sagged in the air as he inhaled deeply. "It smells of - of - my lady - and egg - what witchcraft -" He took a few more hesitant steps forward, inches from her, staring, then buried his nose in her hair. "It… It cannot… I… "

A questioning grumble carried to her ears and Sarah's breath caught in her throat as Ludo shuffled tentatively forward to the edge of the crowd.

"Ludo - it's me - Sarah - rocks - friend -" She outstretched her arm, reaching. He stared at her. They were all staring at her. "It's _ME."_

 _\- I don't know what to -_

Ludo looked from Hoggle to Didymus to her. Then - almost afraid - " _Saawah?"_

She nodded, words failing her. Ludo roared, striding forward and kicking through the goblins that were unlucky enough to be in his path. He reached her, hesitating - she looked up at him, trying to smile reassuringly through her tears.

"Me. _Sarah."_

Didymus nodded in agreement as Ludo carefully reached down, pulling her gently up to wrap her in his furry arms. She buried herself in his rough hair, sobbing fully, unable to hear or talk, just needing to _be_ for a moment, for one brief moment, it had been so long - Ludo needed to be real, she needed them to be real -

There was a persistent tug at her side. Hoggle stood, apprehensive, waiting, watching her. He cleared his throat. "I er… Sar… Sarah? Is it… Yo-"

She flung herself on him, locking him in an embrace, ignoring his "Oof!", and holding him tightly despite his struggles, until at last he slowly wrapped his arms around her. She felt a tentative paw, a scratching on her shoulder, and looked up to see Didymus. She grabbed them both, leaning onto Ludo's legs as she held them, was crying and laughing and she had _done it._ The plan, the spell, whatever she'd hoped and hoarded and wished, it had _worked_ and she was through and - and she wanted this moment to last forever, her and her friends all together, finally, forever - and -

Hoggle finally pushed her off, grabbing her face to inspect it. "Sarah, what - what _happened_ to yer?"

She wiped away a tear from his eye, forcing another deep breath down, trying to think. "What happened to _you!?_ Where did you g- where -" _(Why did you leave - where were you when - why did you all leave me - I can't say it - I can't say it.)_ She let the thoughts remain silent.

There was a pause.

Hoggle looked around, his face darkening and mouth open, as if trying to choose his words.

"This placed has… Changed, my lady." Sir Didymus looked grave, his swaying tail drooping slightly. "The magic here - has… It -"

Hoggle wiped his face with his handkerchief. "It… Turned. It's all - the magic's all warped. Can't make it work, he can't get it ta work, won't be bent nor bought or used -"

The first goblin who'd spoken piped up from the sidelines: "It started to change on its own. The Labyrinth."

She turned. "I thought… It could already do that, though."

The goblin looked down. "It did. It can. But someone was usually in charge of - changing it. Or changing it back."

 _"_ What? What do you mean it… It changed? Changed into what? It's still a Labyrinth, isn't it -"

Hoggle grabbed her hand, his tone now hushed. "The Labyrinth - it - it - the magic - took on a new life. It's… A new Labyrinth. Different. Dangerous."

"So? It's always been dangerous -"

 _(He's… Avoiding. Why are they acting guilty? Or - no, that's not it - they don't want to tell me something.)_

"Not like… Not like this, Sarah."

 _Is… Is Hoggle sweating?_

He shuffled his foot slightly. "It's not… Stable… Cause it's not… Under anyone's - control. Nuttin' is. That's why - that's why - we couldn't get to ya, see. It - kinda - sucked up all the magic sorta and - and -" He trailed off.

"But… But what - what happened to - the controller?" No one was looking at her. In fact, they were desperately looking everywhere but her. "What - happened to the other magic? Why didn't he - send you - or - or - come through the mirror, or - "

Hoggle cut her off. "The mirror sealed. All of 'em. At first, it was gradual-like - we didn't think it was worth mention' that the mirror were gettin' hard ta cross, that we was gettin' a little stuck, cause… We thought he was workin' on a new spell, thought it was justa - hiccup he was fixin', but then one day… It was a mirror. Only a mirror."

"He almost broke trying to get through it." A goblin spoke emphatically. "The way he hit it over and over -"

"But… What happened to… " Sarah began, then stopped.

 _Do you really want to know?_

 _If their world is broken, if their magic is corrupt, do you really want to know what happened to…_

Sir Didymus piped up desperately. "I - I was able to make it though, my lady! Part of my extended family is known for being wily, and I was able to slip through but a few times, through a portal in your trees, albeit in a fairly weakened state, altered severely by the magic trying to block me -"

Sarah grabbed his face, fresh tears brimming. "The dog! Was that you!? It WAS you! Oh, Didymus - I'm sorry! I'm - I tried to talk, I thought it was you, but -"

"Indeed 'twas. The fish of tuna you gave me was perhaps almost worth squeezing between two worlds. But the magic - it altered me, my lady! I could not communicate with you no matter what I tried, and in the end, I was sealed off altogether, and we have since been trapped within, sealed and confined, living in this forest encampment like filthy animals - "

"But -" Sarah released him and looked around. "Why - why didn't -"

 _(I'm not - I can't say it.)_

She forced herself to take a deep breath. "No one's answering my question: why didn't the Goblin King help - you know - the goblins?"

There was a great pause. Hoggle coughed. Her head snapped towards him.

"What?" Cough. "Hoggle?" The cough transitioned into a mutter. "Hoggle. I can't -" Another mutter, this time slightly less low. "Just whisper it in my ear!" She leaned over to him.

He cleared his throat, looking around nervously before whispering very quickly. "He's - lost most of his magic too."

Sarah stared. " _What!?_ How - how is that even -"

The goblins were squirming and whistling desperately, trying to cover her outburst, and Hoggle shushed her hurriedly. "We dunno. We don't. We can't. But - but Sarah - ya - ya _made it through. You could fix the magic. You could beat the Labyrinth._ " This brought a murmur of agreement.

 _He_ lost _his_ magic _? How did he_ lose _his magic? What does that even_ mean _? How -_

And then the rest of Hoggle's words caught up with her suddenly.

"What? Wait, no, I - what?" Her heart started to beat faster. "Wh- why would you - think that I could do anything -"

"You beat it once, you can beat it again!" A few cheers came from the crowd.

 _(Oh no. No no no I am in no condition to be anyone's savior.)_ "I didn't - beat it - I was _lucky! I had help!_ What can I - and anyways, it's not MY Labyrinth! Where's the one who _should_ be taking control!?"

This stopped the crowd cheering. The whistling resumed, full force.

"He's uh… " Hoggle mopped his brow. "He's… Sittin'."

Sarah looked at him. He avoided her gaze determinedly. "Away. By hisself. Alone."

"Is… Is he hurt?"

"Hurt? No, no, it's just… Er… He's - not in the best of moods, ya could say."

 _Not in the best of moods… Sitting…_

 _(Oh, goddamnit.)_ "He's…. He's _sulking_ , isn't he?" Sarah snapped, a spark of - anger? Was that was this was?

 _Yes._

Anger at him. Gasps broke out from the crowd.

"He's sulking and throwing tantrums, just like when I was 16, isn't -"

She was cut off by loud exclamations of "SHHHHHHH", with a couple of extra loud whistles thrown in for good measure. She glared at them. "What's the plan then!? Go in by myself, behind his back? Try to overthrow his own Labyrinth without the king!?"

There was another pause. Then: "I guess… We could see if he feels like talking today." A goblin muttered. A few nodded in agreement.

"Just got me armor repaired, so's if I get thrown or kicked by 'im, I'll be in good shape!" One piped up.

Hoggle looked her up and down, hesitant. "We'll… Get 'im. Just - ya just stay and - try… " He paused. "Try ta look like… Yerself."

 _Look like…_

 _(Shit. I forgot what I looked like.)_

She ran her hair with her fingers as her mind reeled, trying to catch up. Rogue Labyrinth, sulking king, friends stranded. And she was supposed to be able to help them, somehow, despite… Her current condition. Oh, and _he_ was coming, right now, to see her in all her "current condition" glory.

 _(Whatever. He thinks he's got it bad? He'll see what bad looks like. No, wait, shit. Oh god. I don't want to see him. I can't see him. Shit. Shit! I look like shit. Well - I don't care about that - I do but - I - I don't care if he thinks I look weird! Why would I care? But I mean… I want to look… He's going look amazing and I look like - I just fell on my face. Which I did. Well, maybe he won't look all, you know, - he's lost all his magic, right?)_

 _(How do you_ lose _all your magic? How does that happen? He's coming, and - oh my god, when was the last time I saw him? Like actually saw and spoke to him? Whatever, he's not expecting me to look amazing after I got - well, he's not expecting me to look great either way. He doesn't care. I don't care. But what did I look like the last time I saw him? Normal. I looked normal, and now I look - fuck. Fuck! I don't know what - what will I say to him!? Hey, I know last time we talked, I looked a little less - dead, but - wait a minute.)_

 _(… When was the last time I ever had a conversation like that with him!? When was the last time I ever had a conversation with him at all!? We don't talk. He tried to kidnap my brother, it's not like we chat over tea or - Christ, was the last time I saw him - like actually saw and talked to him - when I rejected his offer after I got Toby back? But… That can't be right. That was - I was 16! That can't be - shit! How have I never had a real conversation with him after that? Well, that's - that's on him! But I did see him after that -)_

 _(- Did I? I think I did. I just saw bits of - whatever - I saw flashes of him. Bits. His face. Glitter. An owl. I - he never talked to_ me, _It's not like - it's not like I -)_

 _(_ \- _Rejected his whole kingdom and offer in exchange for Toby?)_

 _(That's - that's not my fault! I didn't have a choice, not a real one and besides if I was so important then why did he - he abandon - he left me alone - wait, no, that's not even right anymore, is it? If he lost his magic? Did he have control over - when I was alon- but… Why didn't he try to - I feel like I'm missing part of the story, he should've - damnit, I want answers! How does a guy who can reorder time lose his kingdom, his magic, and not have the simple ability to say, 'Hey Sarah, in a little bit of trouble, sit tight, we're working on it.' Not even one word, not even for months - I mean he can_ shapeshift _for god's sake are you really telling me he - he's going to be here any second, I can ask him then! If… If he doesn't - I don't know, try to kill me for winning. Or something. Oh god. Is he going to be angry? Wait, I'm sitting. Fuck. Stand. Stand and show him you're not afraid.)_

She stood, instantly regretting it. Between the soreness from falling and the possibility of an angry Goblin King, Sarah was shaking, anxiety a wave that rushed over, threatening to drown her. She grabbed a tree, leaning against it as Ludo made a concerned noise, hovering.

"I - I'm ok."

That was the furthest from the truth she'd been in a long time. Her heart was pounding, she was cold and hot and while she was breathing, her lungs felt too small to hold the air.

 _(Fuck. Shit. Pull it together. Don't let him see you like this. You're better than this. At least I didn't lose my magic,-)_

 _(- Yeah you only lost way too much weight and your mind, not to mention sleep, hair, basic functioning skills, -)_

 _(Stop it stop it stop it.)_

Ludo pulled her back up as she slumped down the tree. She leaned partially onto him, trying to come out of it, her eyes unblinking.

 _(This is happening too fast I should've - too much - I don't want him to see me - I should've - like - snuck up on him, and -)_

He was behind her.

She could feel it. A wave of something - adrenaline, fear, dread - swept up from the tips of her toes to her head as the chill ran through her. The goblins were dead silent. Ludo stepped away, and Sarah stood swaying in space, her body suddenly feeling too light and too heavy.

She wasn't ready. She never would be. He was so far away, left her so far behind, he was too real and not real at all, he was everything and anything and _isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that EXACTLY what you wanted? Wasn't he and this place everything you ever wanted and -_ no, he was nothing, he was like trying to hold water, always taunting, always faceless, just beyond her, infuriating and - and she would never compare, could never compete, could never -

would never -

never -

She needed to turn around. Needed to face him like a strong person, like she wasn't about to pass out or have a panic attack, she needed to turn, she _had to turn -_

She did it too stiffly, spun on her heel trying to look casual and tough, succeeding in neither and stumbling in the process, her hair whipped into her face and -

Time stood still. Well. It seemed to. Her heartbeat froze and she let out a puff of air she didn't realize she'd been holding. She had planned on looking at his feet, then up at the rest of him, but he was there, he was close, _so close,_ only a few feet away and she couldn't _not_ look at him directly, and - and so -

His face was the same. Not a day older or later. She wanted to scan him, give him the once over and then turn away, but she couldn't leave his gaze, was locked in it, blue and dark, stars and night sky.

 _Had they always had that spark? In the darkness of his eyes, had he always had that -… Flicker of - life?_

It didn't matter. She didn't need to think about it. She couldn't. She was looking into space and time, and you didn't need to breathe or think in space. A voice somewhere in the back of her mind told her that she should really be looking away now, or at least blinking, or _please for the love god just shut your gapping mouth_ but she - she -

He tilted his head _(like an owl)_ and the moment broke.

Sarah didn't mean to, but suddenly she was overcompensating. Blinking and twitching, looking at him, around him, everywhere but him, scanning him, watching him from the corner of her eye, then trying eye contact again _he's not looking at you anymore you idiot,_ fine, avoid the face, look at the hair, or the trees, or literally anywhere else, feeling every beat of her heart, every inhale of her breath, hoping she wasn't turning pale, then desperately trying not to blush.

 _(Fuck fuck fuck shit just look somewhere and hold it! Should I say something? Should he say something? Let him talk. No. Go for the power play. You talk. No! Let him! No! Now it's just a giant pause! Good god! Someone say ANYthing!)_

Something between a high keen and a voice-cracking wheeze escaped through her lips and she regretted all in her life that lead up to it. Sarah closed her eyes and hoped the Labyrinth would swallow her right there.

It didn't. She hated this place.


	4. No Power

A/N: And now the entrance you've all been waiting for...

Thank you to those who followed, favorited, and have reviewed with such kind words! I'll figure out how to write back soonish - this site's formatting is hard for me to get, I had to spend about a half hour just to figure out how to edit on here! Just a quick heads up, there's some cannon-messing about within this section but I'll clarify it at the beginning of the next chapter (for the most part). Cheers and happy holidays to all!

 **No Power**

He moved suddenly and she jumped - no, she lurched, staying in place, but he just walked around her, still not speaking. Sarah tried to follow him with her head, to focus on the details. His hair wasn't so shredded, it was longer and layered and -

 _(Are those feather in it!?)_

\- and it was less blonde, more silver, catching the light. His pants were leather now, carved with designs, his boots tall, vest and shirt were rich colors, his cape long and thick and elegantly shredded. His face was different as well - it wasn't older, it just - his makeup or tattoos or whatever had changed. They were smoother, flowed together better, more blended and sleek. His -

 _(Wait. What does he think_ I _look like!? I look like death and weird and sick and - well fine, he'll say - he'll say something stupid and condescending, something - like 'you've changed' and then I'll say 'you haven't' and then it's his move, his turn to respond and I've got the upper hand, and I'm right and -)_

He stopped in front of her.

Sarah's mouth moved without thinking. "Youhaven't."

 _(Shit.)_

He did that little head tilt again. "I haven't what?"

 _(Well, so much for the plan. Fuck. This is a disaster. Just. Try and -)_ "Changed." _(Ok, good Williams, now salvage the situation and - )_

His eyebrow raised. "Haven't I?"

 _(I mean, yes, you have, but - not like - you look like you got a wardrobe upgrade, not like you've lost your magic - Oh god, why did I think that? DON'T SAY THAT, ok, do nOT SAY THAT SARAH, DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANY MAGIC OR LOSING OR - JUST SALVAGE THE CONVERSATION and -)_ "Heard your Labyrinth is broken." She responded.

 _(Goddamnit, mouth. You had one job. One.)_

Sarah could feel the sweat under her arms. This wasn't going according to anything. There was no plan.

 _(God. Just do SOMETHING!)_

He was glaring. He wasn't at a full scowl yet, but his eyes were hard and - he was speaking. She needed to focus.

"And… Where did you hear such things?"

Now she had to extra careful. She could feel Hoggle's eye's boring into hers, as well as the goblins, and they all said the same thing: _don't tell him that we told you._ "I… I figured. I couldn't reach you for a while." _(Couldn't reach you? Is this a phone line?)_

"You were trying to _reach_ to me?" He was circling her again. Shit.

"N- no - I mean - yes, but - no -" _(You don't have to let him circle you. Follow him! Maintain eye contact!)_

She tried, but ended up pivoting too slowly and stumbled on her own momentum. It wasn't the effect she'd hoped for. "I don't mean reach you, I mean something - something must've happened if you - I mean, everyone - stopped - I didn't see you - by you, I mean you all -" She gestured wildly at the crowd.

"Well, if you wanted to reach me, you could've just… Wished."

Sarah paused. Her brain, filled with a million thoughts, emptied into silence. There was just - surprise. Shock. What did he just say? He didn't really think that - he wasn't really telling her that, to her face, after a… Year. And then the thoughts were rushing back, and there was that other feeling, in the pit of her lungs, her stomach, that hot little spark of fury. "You - I could've just _wished?_ You don't think I _tried?_ " Her voice was quivering again, but it wasn't from anxiety. "You -"

"Well, perhaps you didn't wish hard enough. Perhaps you didn't _want_ enough." His tone was casual, flippant.

Sarah's head was charged with sudden fire, her thoughts raging at her to scream at him, that perhaps he shouldn't have lost his magic, perhaps _he_ should've tried a little harder himself, _perhaps_ if he hadn't _sulked about_ for a year while she lay on the other side of a mirror that was never opening, wasting away -

"You have no idea what I -" Sarah bit her tongue, glaring at ground as if she could sear a hole into it with her anger. This is what he wanted; he wanted her upset. He wanted her flustered. It was how this worked; the scared, stupid little girl and the evil, taunting Goblin King. "You know what? I did try. Wishing. But I don't think I was getting picked up." Her voice choked out, the rage boiling her throat. _(What? Since when are wishes like a wifi signal?)_

He looked up at the sky, repeating her words back. "You wanted me to… Pick you up."

That threw her.

 _(This is what he does, he throws you off, he twists your words. You're giving him openings. Just be clearer. Don't let him do this.)_ She took a shaky breath and saw his eyes dart towards her lips. _(He knows I'm nervous. And angry. Fuck it. Ok.)_

"I mean," She started. "I TRIED wishing but I guess it didn't work." _(Good.) "So,_ I collected every piece of magical-looking shit that I could find, -" _(Not good. Really not good. Very not -)_ "- for a year, in a sort of backass attempt to make some kind of _clusterfuck_ spell that would get me back to _this_ hellhole _-_ " _(Stop talking. Cease. End.)_ "- and here I am. Tah-fucking-dah!"

Her words were choppy, a biting smile forced into each one, but the combination rush of anger and the effort at suppressing it was now draining. She felt everything, but below that anxiety and exhaustion were tugging at her, sapping her energy. She really needed to sit down - her knees were shaking -

"So you are. And what should I do with you?"

 _(Um. Oh. Ok.)_ "Uh….." She looked around for help, someone needed to tell her what to d-

everyone avoided her eyes. _(This was their idea, damnit! Hoggle! Crowd of goblins that was cheering me on a minute ago! Help! Hello!)_

He stopped in front of her again and stared her down, waiting, arms crossed.

She opened her mouth and spoke unthinkingly. "Help me." _(Oh my god. What did I just say?_ Help me? _Out loud? I don't even have words. Literally.)_

He raised an eyebrow. Sarah's exhaustion threatened to take over, she could feel lots of other words, filler words, babbling nonsense chaos that was bubbling up. She was about two seconds away from announcing that she would be leaving now, thank-you-everyone-for-your-time-and-have-a-nice-day when Hoggle finally spoke.

"Begging yer pardon, sir… WE was thinkin'… Since she won - well, er, no, not won - she suceed- uh - last time, on, ya know, the Labyrinth when she - finished? That maybe -"

Sarah opened her mouth to argue - beating the Labyrinth was little better than 'finishing', but either way she was in no condition - when she saw he'd wheeled around to Hoggle, cloak swishing about.

"She didn't _do well,_ she _broke_ it!" He snapped, voice dangerously quiet. Hoggle was nodding in agreement already. "And she _cheated!_ "

Ok, that wasn't - _(Come on, Williams, stand up for yourself.)_ She sucked in a breath, fighting not to let her voice shake. "What!? I didn't break it! And YOU cheated! You sent traps and reordered time, and -"

"And you _wished for it."_

Silence. Not even the wind blew. Sarah bit her tongue, hard. He'd - he'd done this before, _used_ that when she was running his Labyrinth. _I've done everything YOU ASKED - YOU wished that Toby would…_ She didn't have the energy for this battle again, and arguing with him when he was this angry and she was this tired didn't seem wise and - he turned and leaned in suddenly, fast, towards her shoulder. She tried not to jump. She failed.

"You _broke_ it, you _corrupted_ it, and now it's gone completely _chaotic_." He whispered, an inch away from her ear. "You asked for the world and I _gave it to you and then you turned it."_

 _(What? Broke? Threw it away? Corrupted?)_ The questions flashed through Sarah's mind but her mouth was only responding to his tone: "And you _lost_ to a 16-year-old- _child_ who didn't even know how to use your world, let alone beat it. Which I _did_."

 _(That wasn't what you were supposed to say. You were supposed to prove all his points wrong! You didn't even deny it!)_

More importantly, _(DID YOU JUST CALL THE KING OF GOBLINS A LOSER!?)_

"The _PERSON WHO GRANTS WISHES_ cannot deny the wish!" He growled, pulling away to stare her down.

"Except when I've been calling out for months with no reply!?" She snapped, fury alive and well, etching itself into the words, trying to match his glare.

 _(WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?)_ Her energy was somehow back, anger renewed, but now she was losing control. She was going to be thrown in an underground cavern for her temper. She could see it in his eyes, that spark that dared her to test him, to push him, to -

 _(He has no power over me.)_

The thought came from nowhere, but she instantly knew it was true. If he couldn't control the magic, then he couldn't do anything to her. She blinked, eyes watering, but she held his gaze.

His words were ice. "I am not here for your personal _bidding,_ _girl._ I have a kingdom to run."

"Sure. Except right now, it looks like you're fa-" She bit her tongue a third time, stopping herself. He didn't have power, but she didn't have to go that far. She didn't _want_ to go that far. Magic or no magic, he could still do something unpleasant, she was sure of it. And telling him that he wasn't in charge probably wasn't a good move if she wanted to avoid Oubliettes. _(Stall. Think of something else.)_ "You're - doing - you." _(Was there nothing else in the English language you could think of besides that?)_ "So good job." She added hastily. _(Not better.)_

There was a silence. She could feel everyone's confusion at that last sentence.

She started again. "I'm trying to… " _(What_ are _you trying to do?)_ "Uh…"

Ok, so she actually had no idea where that sentence was going either. Wait. What was the plan here? To go in and fix the Labyrinth? That wasn't something she wanted to wasn't something she knew if she _could_ do. She just wanted - to - to see them, and - uh… "Well… I guess I've done my - thing - and - great to see you all. Glad you're doing… Well." _(What? What are you saying? Do you want to throw in some fingerguns while you're up there embarrassing yourself?)_ "I'll uh… I'll see myself out. Great catching up."

She turned, _too slowly,_ and took a step to walk away when her knees finally gave out and she fell to the right, catching herself against the tree, breath knocked out of her. Suddenly her left arm was wrenched away, she was being pulled back up, looking into his face, his face that was snarling and furious and was _way_ too close to her's. She gulped.

"I said, goodbye -" She started before his gaze shut her up.

"And how," He sneered, baring his pointed teeth, "Do you think you're going to manage that?"

He released her arm and she fell back against the trunk.

 _(How is he still taller than me? Didn't I grow at all?)_ Was all she could think, until she realized he was expecting an answer. Again, she didn't have one. "Uh… I dunno… I'll just um… Do what… What I did to get here."

As the words left her lips, she knew that was the stupidest response she could have given. _(What did you do to get here? Oh, right, just hoard candy and crystals for months, and hope that laying them all out in a weird pattern on the exact night and time you wished Toby away would be enough to transport you. You're here by luck, Williams. You don't know jackshit about casting spells. And you have no idea how to get back, because you don't know how you even got here.)_ Her hand flopped lamely towards the objects. "I'll… Just…. Use… Those things…"

He didn't even bother looking. Neither did she. Even if she had been able to transport herself using them, there was no way they were in any shape to reverse the spell. What was left of the objects had been shattered, broken, or been absorbed (rather quickly) into goblin fashion/armor.

 _(Ok, but - but - maybe he doesn't know that I'm bluffing - so -)_

His words hissed in distain, mouth twisting up in a cruel smirk. "You got here by chance. You've no idea what you did, and you've no idea how to recreate the same lightening strike you achieved."

 _(Damnit. So much for that cover.)_ She opened her mouth again without thinking, defensive snark ripping out. "Fine. You're right. It was a shot in the dark. Well, since I'm such a fuckup, you can just use all _your_ unlimited magic and send me ba- _oh, wait._ "

Hoggle groaned, and Sarah's internal voice joined him. Why had she said that? _(You want to rub it in his face that he can't use magic? You're going to die now. You called him out and any magic he does have left is going to be spent zapping you into oblivion. What a way to go.)_

Her body slid down the tree a few more inches and his eyes narrowed into slits. _(Double fuck.)_ She wasn't going to be able to keep leaning like this. Not that it mattered. She was probably seconds from being a frog anyways. His hand moved out faster than she could dodge and he'd grabbed her wrist, harshly yanking her upright again, his fingers digging in despite the softness of the gloves.

 _(He doesn't need to be that aggressive - ow, in fact. This hurts. Fine. He wants to be in control?)_

She went completely limp. He almost dropped her, snarling as she dangled, boneless. She was grinning like an idiot, but admittedly it was getting progressively harder to fall and recover each time. He released her and Sarah buckled, but managed to stop from hitting the ground completely, leaning on her knees with a smirk.

 _(Haha, your all-powerful-majesty. You can whip me around like a ragdoll if you want, but I'm not going to fight you this time. I know your games, and I can play them right along with you -)_

 _(Play along with him!? This isn't a game, idiot! Look at him! He's furious! Shit. Just - calm him down.)_ "I just - need to get home."

That didn't - that wasn't what she wanted. But it was the only thing she could think of to say besides 'please don't kill me'. "Yeah, home. Really -" She'd meant to finish with his name, but - she couldn't handle saying it out loud yet. She couldn't even quite meet his eyes.

" _You came to this land by a wish."_ His voice was a whisper. A scary, scary whisper. She definitely wasn't going to look into his eyes. Nope. No way.

"Well -" Why was she speaking? Her voice didn't seem to know either. It was a squeak. "I beat that wish, and I beat the Labyrinth so -"

His crisp tone snapped through hers. " _You corrupt my Labyrinth, you corrupt my kingdom, and you corrupt my magic. And now you show up and demand to go home?"_

Her head was forced up as fingers curling into her jaw. She tried not look directly at him, but that proved, once again, to be impossible. She froze as she met his gaze - she could _feel_ his rage, or contempt, or whatever - whatever this was. The air was thick, electric and dangerous, like the rippling heat from a fire. Her eyes were watering from not blinking.

" _I think not. I think - you should be held responsible for the damage done."_ He dropped her chin. Her head bobbed from the force, but she forced it back up, trying to maintain the eye contact. Now he wasn't even looking at her. _(Just as well, I can blink at least.)_ Her eyes were streaming. "I think - you're going to fix… Everything."

There was a pause. Then one of goblins raised his hands and clapped, once. The Goblin King threw back his head and roared with laughter, and everyone burst into applause. Sarah stared at Hoggle, who shrugged while clapping. Ludo was cheering, also looking bewildered. In fact, they all looked confused. Except for _him_. He looked… Triumphant. He glanced back to her, waiting a retort.

"Uh… What?" She was lost.

He turned away addressing the crowd. "Make preparations. We leave within the hour. Unescorted."

"Hey - wait - wha- what's happening now?"

And then he was deaf, striding off, kicking a few goblins as he disappeared into the trees. Hoggle called after him. "Ya sure that's - that's a wise thing, your high-" But he was gone.

Sarah let out a wheeze of anxiety and relief. "What - what just happened? Anyone?"

Hoggle glanced back at her uneasily. "I… I think yer headin' back inta the Labyrinth."

"Wh- _WHAT!?_ I didn't - I did _not_ agree to that! I - no! You can't make me!"

"Ya owe him, m'lady!" A particularly hairy goblin piped up at her knee. "Did he not grant ye several wishes?"

"No, that is _not_ what he - … Is that my yoyo?"

"Wot?"

Sarah pointed to his chest, where her bright yellow yoyo hung, wrapped around his neck several times.

"It's me necklace! Very old and filled with ancient power it 'tis - but the point, ye owe him a boon. A favor."

"No, that's not what happened, and - he can't just -"

"Sarah." Hoggle spoke quietly. "'S the only way yer goin' back."

Ludo growled nervously, placing a hand on her shoulder. Her knees fully buckled, and she sank into the leaves.

"My lady is faint!" Sir Didymus hopped on Ambrocious. "Clear the warpath! Give her air, you stinking swines!"

The hairy goblin looked around uncertainly. "Get outta here, ya scum! YA heard the boss! Prepare!" They all seemed to like the sound of that, and scrabbled away into the woods.

Sarah watched as they disappeared. "What… Are they preparing?"

Hoggle looked at Didymus for help. "Uh… Stuff like…"

"Weapons!" Didymus piped up.

Hoggle rolled his eyes. "Jareth don't use weapons."

"Food!"

"We don't have food ta take."

Sir Didymus paused. "… A map?"

Hoggle scoffed and turned back to Sarah. She grinned, shakily. "So… Nothing. The goblins just wandered off to do nothing."

"Er…" Hoggle looked into the forest. "They're doing sumthin'. Probably fightin'."

A chicken squawked in the distance, but besides that, there was silence. Sarah felt her heart quickening, pounding in the stillness -

"Hoggle." She began. "I… I can't."

"Sarah, what… What happened to ya?" His eyes were full of concern.

 _(Which part? The weakness? The skeletal frame? Maybe the life-force leaking from me?)_ "I - I don't know. I… Got like this around the time you left - it's not important right now."

He scowled at her. "It's pretty damn important if ya can't even walk a Labyrinth, let alone fight it 'n' win."

 _(Fight it?)_

"Hoggle, _I can't_ _._ " She massaged her palpitating heart. "I'm…" _(Dying. No. No, even if that's true - I can't say that to them.)_ "I'm… I'm _sick."_

"I can… I can see that, Sarah. But… I don't…" His face filled with sadness, caving as he looked at her. "I don't know howta… Help ya. Only Jareth… Jareth might be able to -"

"Ha." She uttered, tonelessly. "The only thing he cares about helping is his Labyrinth."

"And… And us, milady." Didymus looked at her, eyes round and large.

 _(You? Didymus and Hoggle and… All of them? Help…? But why would…)_

 _(Well, he's not a_ _monster_ _, Sarah. They're still his subjects. His subjects, without…)_

"Sawah… Help friends?" Ludo looked down at her, blinking.

"He speaks truly - if thou wouldst not do it for our king, then… Mayhap for us?" Didymus placed his paw on her knee.

 _(For them.)_

Sarah thought back, to sitting on the floor night after night, crying into the darkness, going through the box, her heart growing fainter and fainter, but -

 _(But at least I had a home to cry in. At least I had a roof over my head. At least I had Toby and Dad, and Karen, and -)_

And Sarah closed her eyes, guilt now swimming into the clouded panic. All she'd done was whine about how much she'd missed them and how awful it was, but had she ever stopped to think about it? About what was happening to them? She had, at home, she'd wondered if they were dying or hurt, but then she'd managed to get across and -

 _(I think I was so happy they were alive that I just…_

 _…_ _I didn't think about how they'd been doing, with a Labyrinth, and a broken Goblin King, and all this information -)_

 _(But this isn't really… About him. I'm - I wouldn't be doing it for him, or whatever he thinks I did. I didn't break anything and I'm not to blame, but if I can help them… Get back their - magic or homes, or whatever - Who am I to say no? I mean, as long as I don't die in there, the most I'll have to suffer is… Is an awkward king with a temper and a lot of tantrums. Right?)_

 _(And I think after suffering in silence for a year, I can put up with a little bit of that so they don't have to.)_

 _(But that doesn't… Change the fact that I'm_ _sick_ _, and I'm probably not strong enough to do this. I mean - I wasn't prepared the first time, but at least I was healthy. How am I gonna do that now?)_

 _(You're gonna figure out a way, is how. He's not going to drag you back in there without a deal. I wished my way here, and it was granted, but I'll do another one - or he's not getting my help. I mean, the whole reason I_ got _sick is cause… They left. I think. So he kind of - owes me that, at least. He's going to… To fix me. Heal me. Something. He wants my help? Ok. But he's not going to get it without a price.)_ "Of… Of _course._ I'm - sorry. I'm not - not thinking properly. I'll try to help - you - all of you, any way I can."

The relief in their faces was palpable. "Ha _HAH!_ My lady and my lord shall once again be triumphant, shall tame the land and -" Didymus began.

"Right, just - hold on. What exactly are we - tame-fighting? The Labyrinth itself?"

Hoggle nodded.

"But - earlier you said. Wait. So… We're going in with no weapons, no food, no supplies…" Sarah began, ticking off her fingers.

Hoggle shushed her. "Ya only got a few hours, tops. Still the same Labyrinth. Ya get one chance, one time."

She rolled her eyes. _(Of course. Only 13 hours to solve a dangerous, deadly Labyrinth with no backup supplies, what were you expecting Sarah?)_ "Well, at least with you guys, we'll have the rocks, and Sir Didymus will use his sword, and Hoggle, you know all about -" She stopped. They weren't looking at her. "… What?"

Hoggle shuffled his feet uneasily. "I - I don't think… I didn't get the general impression we was invited, Sarah."

"What? No." She scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

Sir Didymus glanced at her. "He… Speaks the truth, my lady. Though we would follow you to the ends of the earth, sworn to protect thee, to die for thee -"

"Didymus! Enough." Hoggle held up his hand. "We can't. The Labyrinth only responds ta Jareth. He could bring us, but…"

Didymus coughed. "A small party went in, a month ago. We have not… We have not seen the fellows since."

Sarah stared at them in horror. "What - what are you saying? The Labyrinth - it -"

"'Tis in full control. Jareth is still powerful - thou shall be safest with him - but even he cannot stop it, from - from -"

 _"_ _Did the Labyrinth eat them?"_ Her mouth gaped.

"What!? No! They're just - they're lost, is all." Hoggle glanced at Ludo. "Even - even if we was ta _try_ to come with ya -"

"Ludo... Have to staaaaaay." Ludo looked away, face crumpled in worry.

"We are bound to his word, M'lady." Didymus nodded. "Though it pains me to the very core, we cannot go against our king."

"But - but -" _(No, I can't do this without them. There must be a loophole.)_ "What about when we rebelled against him!? When we rescued Toby, and -"

"He never actually… He never actually TOLD us we HADTA stop." Hoggle twiddled his handkerchief.

"What about when you gave me the peach!?" Sarah glared.

"He told me I hadta… So I did… "

She was determined to find the gap in their logic. "But he _also_ told you to confuse me and get me lost, and you didn't -"

"Well, technically, ya did that on your own, several times, so - came true -"

The forest and orange sky seemed to darken around them.

 _(This - it can't happen like this. I can't -)_ Sarah fought back tears. "Didymus, Hoggle, Ludo -" She lowered her voice. "I - I don't think - I _can_ do this! Not without - "

"Of course ya can!"

"Really?" She lost the fight, the tears leaking out. "Hoggle - I was _lucky_ the first time -"

"Hush." He wiped her eyes. "Ya were brave, and smart -"

"I was _stupid,_ I was _young,_ and I was making it up as I went along -"

"Then ya were stupid and young. But enough to beat it."

" _Not without your help._ " She was shaking. "I'm not _strong enough._ Look at me - look at -"

He let her blow her nose. "Well… Jareth is. Yer gonna have his help. He's the king, so -"

 _(He's not listening.)_ "I'm - I can't _trust_ him! He - he'll get back his magic, and leave me - or, he won't, and get mad at me, and _then_ he'll leave me -"

"He won't, Sarah." Hoggle glared fiercely in her face. "I'll see that 'e won't. I'll make sure."

 _(Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, NOT march in after us?)_

The panic was hot and too big for her body. She just shook her head, wordlessly wide-eyed.

"We believe in thee, milady." Didymus smiled, sadly. "Thou must simply… Also have faith. We shall not lose thee again, I swear it. Upon my life's blood."

 _(What if I lose myself?)_

 _(I promised. I said I would help them. And I do have to get home. What choice do I have?)_

 _Turn back, turn back before it's too late._

 _(… Can't.)_

She took a trembling breath, trying to square her shallow shoulders. "Just… Whatever happens, you… You _take care of Toby, ok?_ "

Hoggle looked their group. "Swear it, Sarah. All of us."

"And - and no magical fine-print bullshit, like - like you take care of him, but Jareth still turns him into a goblin, but _technically_ he's physically fine, ok? He stays human, and - and you tell him - I'll find him, and -"

He chuckled. "Doubt Jareth woulda turned 'im to a Goblin. Servant, maybe."

 _(Not better.)_ "No human servants either! No changelings, no surrogate fairy people, no -"

Didymus swept his hat off. "Never, my lady. We are bound."

"Sawah safe. Toby safe." Ludo's hand's wrapped gently around hers, helping her to stand.

Hoggle rummaged around in his vest, brow furrowed. "Now, let's see if we can't get ya some - some kinda sumthin' ta make ya feel a bit more - you, eh?"

"No food." Sarah cringed. The casserole was still too fresh a memory. "And no peaches!" She added hastily. He rolled his eyes, still fishing around, before finally producing a vial filled with cloudy red liquid. He gave it a hard shake.

"Ah. There we are. And there ya go." He uncorked it.

 _(What is that!? Wait. Do I really want to know?)_ She looked at him suspiciously. "What… Will it do?"

"Not a peach, I promise. Give ya some kind of… Life back. Just drink it."

Guilt shot through any suspicion she had. _(I didn't mean to show up like a zombie. Or second-guess my friends.)_ She shot it, then choked. _(Oh god I take it all back. Hoggle's trying to poison me, why god -)_ "What is that!? What _is_ that?! What did you -" It burned her throat slowly as it went down, coating every inch. It tasted like smoke and salt and -

"Fireroot. Gives ya a kick. Yer gonna be fine." He smiled as she hacked. Ludo suddenly turned, facing the trees as Ambrosias's ears pricked up.

Sir Didymus mounted him quickly, trotting forward. "He calls. 'Tis time, my lady."

"That - that wasn't an _hour!_ I'm not ready! I don't - I -"

Hoggle rolled his eyes. "Ya needa powder yer nose? Take a leak? Come on. Hours 'n' the concept of time with Jareth's lose enough as is. Least we gotta few minutes."

"But - but -"

They were pulling her forward. Her chest was pounding again, but - warmth was spreading through it, forcing the panic away.

 _(Ok, that's weirdly helpful. But very poorly timed, potion!)_ She needed to stall. ( _I'm not ready! Oh god, I'm not ready at all.)_ Her bag flapped against her shoulder as she tottered between Hoggle and Ludo. "Hoggle - I -"

They were walking down a winding path, down into the trees. At the bottom, in the middle, the goblins were gathering around a door. A very familiar, very old door.

 _Oh god._

They reached the bottom quickly _(too quickly)_. There was muted mumbling of the crowd as the goblins emerged from trees and leaf piles, rustling, and the wind kicked up, tugging at her hair. She wasn't panicking because of the potion, she supposed, but there was still a dull unease, the dread that should be there but wasn't - she still felt stiff and awkward, and -

 _(Unprepared. What am I going up against? What are we supposed to do? What -)_ "Guys, I don't - I need more time, I'm not ready - _I can't -_ " Her body felt thick and warm, like she was speaking through a sponge. _(Fuck this potion, I need the panic right now, I need to not feel calm, this is bad, this is very, very, bad.)_

"But you, _can_ milady! You've done it before, and with ease!"

She shook her head to clear it. "But - but what's the Labyrinth going to be like!? Do you even know? Maybe… The same, right?" _(Some rocks, some hedges, a junkyard or a headless bird forest thrown in for fun?)_

Hoggle glanced uneasily from her to Ludo. "We - we dunno know."

"Oh. Of… Yeah. Of course not. Nevermind." _(They said the last party… Disappeared. Why did I think they would know? And what am I walking into?)_ "How long does this potion last, Hoggle?"

He shrugged. "Hour. Maybe a few."

She looked sideways at him. "Real hours, or _Goblin King_ hours?"

His mouth opened to reply when that same stillness fell over them, the crowd turning their heads to look behind her.

 _(He's here. Should I turn to see him again? That didn't work so well last time -)_

"So _kind_ of you to join us." He was in her ear.

"Fuck!" She jumped. "Don't -"

He stared straight ahead. "Ready?"

She scowled, shivering despite the warmth of the potion. "Do I have a choice?"

He smiled, still looking ahead. "Of course. Should you wish to stay, join us, live here -"

"Alongside you? Yeah, right. Whatever. Let's go." She dripped as much sarcasm as she could from her voice.

"We are that hideous of an alternative to you? I should wonder why you fought so hard to return."

She blinked. "What? No, I - that's not -" She didn't have a comeback. "Just - just stop." _(Oh, nice zinger there, Williams.)_ " _Listen_ to me."

His eyes locked onto hers and she jolted, her breath lurching to a hiccup. It was beyond a stare - it looked like he was seeing _into_ her. She visibly gulped, throat riding up and down, but she continued her sentence (in a somewhat trembling voice, but she continued). "I - am not taking one _step_ into that - this Labyrinth - until we get something figured out."

"Hmm." She'd expected him to chastise her, but he simply raised an eyebrow, continuing in a light tone, his eyes - … Flashing. " _Another_ wish? Greedy girl. I am… Listening. Go on."

"I'm -… " _(Dying -)_ She felt the eyes of them on her, her friends, the goblins, their intent dependency. _Be our hero, they pled. Don't let us down. Heroes can't die, Sarah._ She took a breath."I'm… Sick. I need - if we do this, I need to be - better." She watched his unchanging expression. "If you can." She added, hastily. _(He's a magical king, not a god. Tricks don't equal miracles, I guess.)_ His eyes snapped over her body, fast, a flash of a gaze, but she ignored him, pressing forward. "At the… End, maybe. After we fix things, when you're - back. You have to heal me. Otherwise, I'm not sure I'm going to -"

"Done." He spoke so quickly she almost missed the word and he broke their gaze, facing forward one more, as if nothing had been said.

 _(Wait, but - did he - get what I was saying - I didn't -)_

Sir Didymus trotted in front of them, sword raised aloft. "May your travels be safe, protected, full of heroics and legend, swift as a fleet of -"

He bowed slightly to Didymus, silencing his narration. "Thank you, sir knight."

Ludo embraced Sarah one last time. She was too dazed to cry; she just felt… Numb, or maybe - the emotions were there, but there were too _many_ of them, so she ignored them all - Hoggle grabbed her in a tight embrace.

"Toby." She whispered in his ear.

"Yes." He looked up at her. "Be _careful_ , Sarah. Ya can do it, just… Listen to 'im. _Trust_ 'im. Make - make -" His voice choked. "Good - choices."

"You sound like Karen. Thanks, mom." She tried to force a laugh. "Bye… Goblins."

They piped up all at once, their voices popping over each other. "Avoid water!"

"And fire!"

"Bring back chickens!"

"Don't listen to anyone who looks like us, unless it's us!"

"A Labyrinth is a puzzle designed to confuse one trying to make their way through its course of -"

"That's not advice, ya nitwit! That's a literal definition of a Labyrinth! "

"You're a definition!"

"It's pronounced _Jeff,_ ya brainless toad!"

"Sod of clay!"

"Pus-filled mushroom!"

"Stale, pissing -"

"That would be our cue." Jareth grabbed her, dragging her towards the door.

"Ow - let go! I can go by myself!" She twisted in his grip, trying looking back at them, at Hoggle, at Ludo, at Didymus -

 _(Please - I only got a little time with them - I just got here -)_

He was moving forward. She tried to reason with his speed as her legs skidded over the leaves, the goblins hastily clearing the path. "Wait - just waitaminute - what about them -

"They'll survive."

She twisted back around, trying to burn their image in her head. "Wait - just -" _(Just stop dragging me -)_ "Just - tell them they can go with us!"

He didn't stop, simply guiding her shoulders, facing her forward again. "They have to stay. They could get hurt if they come. You don't want to do anymore damage, surely. Especially to your friends, whom you _love_ so dearly. "

He was right. It was stupid, and she hated it, but he was right; she didn't want anyone else to get hurt. If this insane series of events somehow did turn out to her fault, if she'd really done all this to the magic, then who knows what would happen if she involved them. And even if she hadn't - there was still a chance they could be hurt, helping her…

Still, she didn't want to - she needed to say goodbye, thank you, to say something - she tried to twist back around, to look back at them one more second - "Wait, I -"

 _He moved fast. He pulled her arm again, hard, and she was yanked around with force, twisting forward, balance thrown, rotating as she tried to right herself. And then - as she spun, unsteady, about to topple - he picked her up, her breath swept away along with her feet, and she was in the air and then his arms, his hands holding her shoulders and supporting her legs as he carried her. In a single step he walked through the doorway, the walls were a blur of grey, she could see part of the forest still, but he was turning, turning right and -_

 _-_ and then they were surrounded by _it._


	5. Choosing the Path

A/N: Happy Holidays/Hanukkah/Monday and Merry Xmas to all! AND HAPPY NEW YEARS! I got socks and a lot of chocolate so I'm a pretty happy writer. Thank you to the kind reviewers who posted to the story/me! I think I am getting the hang of responding... (Except for those that do not accept instant messaging which I completely understand but I thank you all the same publicly!) Your words are very encouraging to read! A couple of notes before the chapter ahead, just to clear some cannon-queries: _1\. Sarah's 15 in the movie but Connelly was 16 when they filmed it, and any way I can age her up seems better to me. Plus I dunno - 16 just - it just seems better? When I was 15 most of us weren't really in that in-between stage, we were still pretty childish, 16 is more like - you start questioning more things, you're only 2 years away from being an adult, you can technically get a driving license if you're in the US (in most places I think at least), you can drink if you're in Europe, sweet sixteen, etc. It just seems like a better fit age-wise. A tiny bit more mature. 2. Yes, I changed Jareth's hair. I always thought it was supposed to be silver and then I re-watched it and realized no… It's blonde, you fool. But I really like silver, so I KEPT IT. Also I like long hair, but mullets are that grey area that make me uncomfortable so... His hair is now layered and long. And his makeup - I adjusted his look, it's been a couple years, etc. Besides, Jareth likes changing his appearance, and his hair shifts throughout the movie (not to mention the costumes lol) so it makes sense he'd update it after a few years maybe? If you don't like it, just ignore it; I mention it a few times throughout for consistency, but it's not key to the story. The point is, JARETH LOOKS HOWEVER YOU WANT HIM TO._

 **Choosing the Path**

Sarah suddenly felt cold, breath freezing in her chest as every sound but her own heartbeat dimmed. The silence was _oppressive_ , encasing everything like a fog, like - like -

 _(a tomb_ - _)_

No. _(No, don't think that, come on.)_

It was _dark._ Not poorly lit, it was just - her Labyrinth had been beige and gold, warm tones filled with the sun, the colors of fall and summer. This looked like… Ruins. Dead thin dead vines clung to the walls, the stones cracked and crumbling on the shadowy grey marble and granite slabs. Even the air was different, it was sharply _cold,_ a mist covering ground in a dull haze _._ She exhaled unsteadily, watching as her breath clouded in front of her, curling in with the fog. And then she was dropped.

"Agh!" She hit the ground, her feet not making… Any noise. The sound was absorbed as the mist swirled up then settled back into place. He brushed his hands.

 _(Like I'm something dirty.)_

Sarah glared at him, but he didn't even bother to glance in her direction.

 _(Fine. Gonna ignore me?)_

She turned to run back and now he was paying attention, grabbing her upper arm as she tried to twist away.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I -" _(I wanted to see them one more time before I - nevermind, he won't understand that.)_ "Just let me go! I need to -"

He held fast to her arm as she dragged him back around the corner. _Just around the arch, they're - they'll be right there, in the doorway - I just want to -_

It was a dead end. She should have known. She bit back tears.

 _(Come on potion. Don't let me cry in front of him. Shit. Come on.)_ He let go of her arm and she sagged against a wall, feeling completely drained. It was covered in slime and Sarah recoiled, jumping back.

 _(Gross! Of course. Why not add a little extra slime in there, just for fun, along with exiling my friends and destroying the Labyrinth into this hellscape. Why not.)_

Wiping off her fingers, she carefully avoided his gaze. _(Now's the part where he makes fun of me for trying to turn back. I don't want to do this.)_ They didn't move. She swept her hair away, waiting for him to say something. Do something. He didn't.

"What. You're not gonna haul me the rest of the way in?" Her voice snapped, filled with bitterness. it was a stupid thing to say, but she was mad at him. Mad and tired and couldn't think of anything witty.

"You're heavy." He turned. "Let's find an opening."

 _(I'm_ _heavy_ _!?_ _I'm_ _heavy!?_ _He - that - argh -)_ She forced air out of her nose. Whatever. She'd take the heavy comment over being _carried_ like sack of potatoes.

"Fine." She kicked a rock viciously. "It's your Labyrinth. Get us in."

"This isn't… My Labyrinth." He spoke quietly, running his fingers over the stones, looking at the residue left behind on his gloves.

"You're right. It's completely glitter-free. Can't be yours." She stomped forward.

"Not so fast." He grabbed her arm again and Sarah was pulled back.

"Ow! Stop doing that! I can't -" _(I'm too weak to get yanked around like this)_

"You'll get lost."

She wrenched herself out of his grip, stepping away from him as she spoke. "Stop grabbing my arm like I'm a toddler! And I'm walking in a _straight line._ I'm not going to turn a corner suddenly and try to lose you, although maybe that's a good ide-"

She was falling; didn't have time to scream and then she hit the ground, again, hard. Dust and mist rose around her, and she coughed, the wind knocked out of her for the second time in a day. It was a dark space, the light not too far above - a pit.

 _Ow. What just happened. Also, OW._

 _That stupid, idiotic, smug -_

 _-_ Bemused face appeared at the top of the pit, arms crossed. "How's the straight line? Or did you find a shortcut?"

His smirk was sickening, and she glared up at him, still coughing. He was right - she didn't know the path. She'd gotten lost. She was wrong. But admitting that would be more uncomfortable than the fall. Gathering herself and what was left of her dignity up, Sarah stood, trying not to show how much it hurt.

 _(That's going to be an interesting bruise.)_ "Thanks for telling me about the pit. Really helped me out there. Traps that I can't see, always my favorite."

The smirk broadened. "It's an old trick from _my_ Labyrinth. Perhaps it _is_ closer to mine than I thought. That's not a pit, it's Oubliette entrance, by the way."

"Oh, _thanks_ for the tour. How do I get out?"

He looked up. "Actually, stay there for a minute." And then he disappeared from view.

"Hey -!"

 _Grrr._

The stones in the walls looked easy enough to scale. She touched them, feeling the slime.

 _(And that's a no. I'll slip as soon as I start.)_

"What about not being separated! Remember that part!" Her voice echoed away into nothing.

 _(This damn pit isn't that deep. Come on Williams. Just climb out of it.)_

There was a vine snaking up on one side. She felt it: dry and spindly and definitely not weight-supporting.

 _(I'm going to try anyways.)_

She got up a few feet, her shoes squelching. The vine was making cracking nosies.

 _(Just hold up for a little longer, you stupid piece of -)_

A shadow fell over her. "What part of 'stay there' wasn't clear?" His form blocked out the light as he stood, arms folded.

Sarah slipped, falling again, but she managed to land properly this time. "I was trying to get out, since _you_ weren't helping!"

"And here it seemed like you were so _sure_ of your path." He crouched down, peering at her. "I _wanted_ you to stay put so I could find an entrance without having to look after you every step of the way."

"If I'm such a pain, why did you bring me along!?" She spat out frustration and dust.

The smirk returned again, in full pointy-teeth force. "I'm sure you'll be useful _some_ how."

She wanted to punch him so badly, right in the smile. ( _Deep, deep breaths Williams. In and out. Anger will not get you out of this pit.)_ "Well, I guess I'll just stay down here then. Until you have a _need_ for me."

A raised scandalous eyebrow joined the smirk.

 _(He took that sentence completely the wrong way, didn't he. That's not what I - I didn't mean - fuck.)_ She grit her teeth. "Or, you could, you know, _get me out_. Whatever works, dude. I'm not in charge here."

He sighed, as if pained, and then extended his long arm and gloved hand to her. It was warm to the touch, as well as slippery from the walls. She looked at it doubtfully. "You sure you got a good grip? I'm so _heavy_ for you, rememb-"

And then she was hoisted, her words caught in her mouth, stomach dropping down as she went up. She was pulled from the fog and dust, his fingers wrapped tightly around hers - and then, just as suddenly, he released her. Sarah's rapid ascent was stopped - she was up in the air, above the pit, in empty yawning space, not land, not solid ground, he wasn't holding her, he'd _let her go and she was going to fall back down_ \- time seemed to slow and she looked into his eyes for a fraction of a second as everything paused -

 _\- His stupid, stupid eyes, that seemed to say "Test me. Try me. Push me and see how far I'll go." -_

\- and then he snatched her from the air, grabbing her by the shoulders just as she began to fall back, placing her on the ground beside him.

"Not - not funny! At all!" _Asshole._ Sarah stumbled away from him, waiting for her breath and stomach to catch up.

 _(How… How strong is he? He just_ grabbed _and_ tossed _me, like I was beanbag, like I was - and look at him, all smug. Heavy!? That was… Easy for him. He's crazy. He's a crazy, insane, showoff asshole! I have t-)_

He grabbed her arm again, steering her. "This way."

"Ok, but I can walk by myself! Let go! Hey! Hello!" She tried to yank her arm back, but he held on.

 _(Wait a minute. He just tossed me out of a pit, like I weighed nothing, so he's… Obviously strong. But… Then how did I even get out of his grip earlier, when I tried to run back? Did - did he let me? … No… Right? That isn't - maybe I caught him off guard? Not that that'll work a second time, but -)_

"Here's an idea." She panted, skidding along with him down the path, unable to match his long strides. "It's called you letting go of my arm." Now he was deaf again. _Great._ "Release. Free me. HELLO." She almost tripped over a rock. "I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME." His hair blew in her face. "Pth! Look - dude - just let go of my arm, it's making it hard for me to walk! I could grab onto - to your - your cloak, or-"

He sneered. "Perhaps you'd like to hold _hands_ , princess?"

She willed the blood she felt rising to her neck to _stay down, blood cells, damnit, do not creep up. I am not blushing in front of him. Even if it's out of rage._ "No, that's not what I - just let me grab your cape, ok?"

"You'd let go and get lost."

She barely sidestepped another crumbled rock in her path. "I'm not going to let go! I'm about to trip to death if you don't - slow - down!" Her body was winded and uncomfortable from the fall, moving lopsidedly against his.

He didn't stop. "So, you prefer being carried then."

"No - just -" The heat was creeping up to her face now. _I can't tell if this is from embarrassment or because I'm out of shape, but either way, stop blushing, you idiot._ "No, no, just - come on - slower, that's all I'm asking at least -"

"We're almost there."

"When you say almost, does that mean really, or like in half a mil _ahaah!_ "

He stopped, but the rest of her body didn't, flailing suddenly at the abrupt stillness. The tight grip on her arm kept her upright as she floundered.

He looked around, searching. "Shhh. We're here. It's close."

"Give me a warning! Jesus! Where are we? And let go if we're here!"

Her arm was finally released, tingling as the blood rushed back to where his fingers had dug in.

 _(Ow.)_

The passage looked exactly the same. She waited. He was silent. _It_ was silent. Her heartbeat rushed against her ears from the forced powerwalk.

"Can… Can I talk?" She whispered. He looked right at her, his eyes staring and judging. "Geez, alright! I'll shut up!"

 _(Well, what are we doing? Is something going to happen? Can he see something? Or…)_ She kicked a rock lightly. _(At least tell me the plan… I mean, I know you blame me, but wouldn't I be a bigger risk if I don't know what's happening? Whatever._ I'm _just the pain in the ass right?)_

She glanced sideways at him and froze. He was still watching her. _(Why isn't he blinking. What. What do you want, you overgrown dandelion.)_

He just stared.

"What!?" She glared back.

"I don't know."

"Can I talk?" His gaze and silence was making her very uncomfortable.

"You clearly can."

She rolled her eyes. "Ok, well… What are we doing here?" Shrug. "What? But - you said this was the spot!" She looked around. "There's nothing here! Why are we - ok, what is _wrong_ with you? Why are you looking at me like that!?"

He tilted his head. "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"What makes me uncomfortable -" She had to turn away, pretended to inspect the walls, she could feel how red her face was getting and _he didn't need to see it._ "Is not knowing what the plan is! You just dragged me here, without listening to anything I was saying, and now you're stopped and suddenly have no clue what's going on!"

"I know… The entrance is here."

"An answer! Finally! I've blessed with information! Ok, do we know what - what the entrance looks like? Or…" She trailed off as he shook his head, eyes never leaving her face. "Look… " She didn't mean to pause again, but she still felt awkward saying his name. She didn't even really know him that well, did she? Definitely not enough for a first-name basis. It felt - wrong."… Your highness - staring at me isn't going to solve anything, right? Just - am I supposed to _do_ something?"

He crossed his arms. "I don't know. Are you?"

 _(Ok, I'm done here.)_ She turned back around. This was ridiculous. If he wanted to play games with her, fine. But she was going to try to find the entrance. Obviously engaging in conversation was a mistake. There must be a clue around here. Something. He'd been cautious about letting her move earlier, but now he'd let go of her arm, so… It must be safe to move. She felt a wall. Still slimy and cold. The opposite side looked just as inviting.

"Open Sesame." She muttered under her breath. Nothing happened. Worth a try. She tried walking forward a bit, dragging her knuckle on the wall. He didn't stop her.

 _(I guess… I'm supposed to find it? I don't know what it looks like! Why am I being tested!? Am I going to run into an invisible door or something? Do I pick up a certain rock and then I can see it? Or…)_

Or was it… Or was it just like her first Labyrinth. Right in front of her if she knew where to look. Was that the answer? She turned back to look at him - still watching her. She narrowed her eyes, holding his gaze.

 _(You know exactly where the entrance is, don't you, you glittery bastard. Alright. If he knows and it's like the first Labyrinth -)_

She took a deep breath, turned and walked directly into the left wall. It was very solid, very real, and very stone.

 _(What - what's happening.)_

It was supposed to be a fake wall. That was how she gotten in last time - she extended her arms along it, feeling for a gap. Nothing. She squinted at the stones in cross-eyed fury as the ghost of his chuckle sounded behind her. _(No way I can make it look I did that on purpose. Goddamnit.)_ She walked sideways, hugging the wall, committed to her new posture.

 _(Ok… So this was how I got in last time, right… So… What am I doing wrong? There's no worm. Is it something else? Fuck. Wait.)_

Sarah halted. Last time, she walked right, and then turned right, and that was the wall, so…

 _(Oh, goddamnit even more. Is it the opposite side? Did we go in headed left?)_

She turned around to the opposite wall, walking across and dragging her hand along the oozing rocks. Her fingers dipped in suddenly, sinking into space that shouldn't be there.

 _Here._

 _(The opening. Motherfucker. It's because I was facing him. I didn't see it because I was paying attention to him. I was just on the wrong side.)_ "Found it." She said, with as much composure as one could maintain from having run head-on into a wall. He was smirking again. _Argh._

"Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten. Or lost your touc-"

"You - I - it's _been a while,_ ok!? A few -" _Months. A Year. More. It's been a long time, such a long time since you left and I tried to remember it all, I tried to study it all, I tried to bring it all back, but I'm not ready for this and you didn't - I worked to understand this place, to understand everything but that doesn't mean I understand_ you _and -_

 _(Don't say that. Don't even poke that conversation, Sarah. Come on. You literally just found the entrance, don't start this right as you're about to go in.)_ "It's been - you're - the one who - who saw the entrance and didn't say anything." Oh, _nice save, Williams._

"I did. I said it was here."

"That's -" _(Not fair? Is that what you were going to seriously say? Are you 16 again?)_ Sarah grit her teeth. "Well I don't know why _I_ had to be the one to find it! Especially if we're on a timecrunch! Whatever. Let's go." She went through the arch, only to be pulled back by her bag. "Hey - !" He grabbed her arm again. "Seriously, dude!? Is this how it's gonna be the whole way? I'm not a little kid -"

He stared into her, cutting her sentence off with his cool gaze. "I'm profoundly _aware_ of that."

"Uh…" Sarah stared at her captured arm, avoiding his… Face. Tone. Whatever that sentence was. "… Ok. Good. Cool. So I'll just - support myself and - cool." She slowly took his hand off. "I'll keep up. Promise." She swung him a pat on the shoulder. "Good talk -"

His hand snaked up and met her wrist, wrapping it in a tight grip _._

"Hey -!"

He pinned her arm under his, _hard,_ tucking it into his elbow _._ "Ow!" She pushed against him, trying to free herself. "Leggo!"

"I'm not letting you get lost." He pulled her forward. Now he forcing them along, next to each other, arm in arm. This was worse, this was way worse.

"I'm not - I'm not gonna get lost! Let _go! I can walk!"_ Her cries were ignored and then swallowed by the walls as they stepped forward into the arch.


	6. The Way Forward

A/N: Helloooooo! It's… *checks calender* … Been almost a month! *profuse sweating ensues* Happy new years, to anyone out there still reading this! AND a late Happy Birthday to our King! I hope everyone had a good new years! I was very sick but now am better and here is a new chapter! Thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favorited and followed! I smile every time a notification manages to find it's way into my inbox. Anyways, time for Adventure! Get ready. This is a looooong-ass journey. And one note before we start - I realize I made Sarah into that "clumsy heroine" cliche, but I did it because she's pretty weak so she's struggling a lot physically. Jareth's not, so she's feeling pretty embarrassed about the whole situation. Also I dunno about y'all but I am hugely klutzy and it's not fun, and I was trying to make a *tiny* little bit of this realistic. I would be slipping and tripping if I was hiking/running/etc through this stuff, given the terrain. That's my defense just so y'all aren't like 'So now she's Bella Swan I guess'. *end profuse sweating*

 **The Way Forward**

She gave up after a few minutes of her struggling and him fully ignoring it. Her cheeks burned with embarrassing rage at being led by him, like some sort of stupid Wizard-of-Oz-dance.

 _(I hate this so much - you arrogant, moronic monarch piece of - I'm not going to get lost if you'd just fucking communicate -)_

 _(Breathe, Sarah. Save that energy. You'll need it if he's gonna be this way the whole time.)_

She turned her focus on the Labyrinth itself. _(Ok, so… Last time I was here, the next part after the endless passage was - um. Just nicer looking rocks, if I remember right?)_

Sure enough, the rocks were improving, becoming smoother and smaller. They looked like thin bricks stacked on one another, more rectangle, more red, brown, green, blue - … _Wait._ Sarah frowned.

"I don't remember that." She ventured into their thick silence.

"What."

 _(Wow, he responded.)_ "Blue. I mean - I don't remember this part looking like - this." _(Ok, that sounded stupid.)_ Almost as stupid as she felt saying out loud. _(Keen observations by Sarah Williams, everyone. She'll be here all night.)_

"It didn't. This isn't mine anymore." His face was void of expression.

"But - but you said that the first passage was just like when I ran it, and -"

He sighed. "I think it was testing us. Or mocking us. Pretending to be mine. It's changed."

"You can tell?"

"I can feel it."

 _(Annnnd just let the conversation die now. Don't try to figure that out. I don't even want to know.)_

Besides, the passage was opening up, and she could see the end of the arch ahead, becoming walls. Walls that were changing as they walked deeper, looking more and more bizarre, they were _colorful_ , earth tones scattered with bright blues and dark purples. And the texture was _definitely_ not stone, maybe… Wood? Or - she was squinting at one of them, it was catching the light in an odd way - when she slipped on something. Her feet went out under her and she grabbed his arm to steady herself. He stopped, staring at her hand as she rebalanced, panting.

"Sorry - I -" _(How is he making me feel guilty for slipping? He's the one holding my arm!)_ "I slipped on -" She looked down. The floor had changed - the rocks had become thin flat pieces of -

 _(What th-)_

Shingles? Wooden shingles? They were beige, uneven rectangles that layered on top of each other like shards of slate. They must have shifted under her as she walked, loosing her footing.

"… That." She finished. "What is that?"

"The ground. We should keep moving. Watch where you're… Stepping."

 _(Yes, you majesty. Sorry, your majesty. My most sincere apologies that I can't move like a human gazelle on Speed.)_

The sky outside a noticeably brighter grey as they finally reached the end, the stones in the wall catching the light, gleaming in thin lines.

"Hey. Look -" Sarah reached towards the walls, fingertips outstretched, intrigued. "They say… Words -"

"Don't touch."

"Chill, royal pain." She didn't though, just to be safe. _(Not because I'm listening to anything he has to say.)_ "This one says… Han - something? And… Tel. Huh."

"This way." His eyes followed her hand movement, but his face was impassive.

"No, I want to see what these say. Look at them. The… Nigh something, the Fro… P?"

He tugged her impatiently.

Sarah dug in her heels, leaning away. "I said, _chill._ That means calm down in human. I -"

"I know what it means, I've heard you say it many tim-" He stopped suddenly, eyes watching her face, then abruptly turned, pulling her down the path.

"What? What did you just say!?" He was dragging her now, like he was trying to outrun her questions.

 _(What was that? 'I've heard_ you _say it many times?' When!? How could he hear me say it? Unless - unless… Waitasecond -)_ "Hey!" She threw her weight against him. It made no difference. "Hey! Your majesty! Talk to me! What? What did you mean you heard me say it many times? Were you - were you _watching_ me?"

Silence except for their footsteps on the ground. He turned right, striding down a long passage and she skidded behind him, panting. "You were, weren't you! I _knew_ I saw you! In the crowds, in the trees, I'd see your face -"

The path curved. He spoke with that same cool tone he'd used earlier, his voice gliding over hers. "I occasionally glanced in upon _Toby._ I was hoping you'd slip up and wish him away again. I distinctly remember you telling him to "chill". Many times."

Sarah's triumph melted slightly. _(Oh. Well. Ok. Fine. That's - that's definitely something I did say. Why did I assume he was watching_ me _anyways? Toby was… Usually around me. I was maybe a little too quick there. But -)_ "… Well, I still know I saw you." The passage straightened out, no longer winding.

"And what did you see, exactly?" His voice was dark, dripping with a condescending tone.

"I -" _(_ … _What did I see? Actually see? Strands of hair whipping around the corner? His face in a crowd, for a split second? Smelling - him, the Labyrinth, something? An owl in a tree a couple times? That's some rock hard evidence, Williams.)_ "… I _know_ I saw - you."

There was an opening in the wall and they went right. It began to curve again, a rounded zigzag.

He smirked. "Perhaps you were fantasizing about me so much your brain supplied your eyes with the images you _desired._ "

Sarah blinked. Then gaped as his sentence clicked.

Wait. _What!?_

She punched him in the arm. It was juvenile. It was stupid. It was all she could think of. He looked down, amused and not a bit hurt, as her voice quivered with fury. "I - did not - _fantasize_ about you! I wouldn't - _you wouldn't_ \- I know what I -" _(What I think I saw.)_ " _God!_ Nevermind! I hope watching _Toby_ kept you amused, pedo!"

"He did somewhat. And he's only my type if I were interested in acquiring another goblin subject, precious."

"I am _not -"_

"On the _rare_ occasions that I saw _glimpses_ of him," He sighed, his tone becoming bored as he pulled her forward. "He seemed generally affectionate of your care. However, mostly he appeared to be… Sticky."

They reached a corner.

"That's -! Well… That's - accurate. But that's not the point! " She spat out the reluctant agreement. The path split into 3 and they went right, hitting a dead end abruptly. _(I'm still not letting that fantasy comment go! Fantasizing!? Please. About you!? No goddamn way.)_

 _(I mean, maybe meeting him and all of them again, after being stranded alone for -)_

 _(That's not the same thing! I_ imagined _finding them, not being dragged through a Labyrinth version of Rambo by a - a - a discount Thranduil!)_

"And why aren't we out of this section yet? Are you _lost?_ " She demanded, her frustration biting through the words.

He let a breath out through his nose, slowly.

 _(Did I piss him off? Good. Suck on that, Mr. Fantasy.)_

Silver hair was flipped over the shoulder as he muttered under his breath. "I _wouldn't be_ , if _someone_ hadn't turned _my_ Labyrinth on its head."

( _Not this again. How is this my fault at all!?)_ This is _not_ where she'd wanted the conversation to go. "I didn't _do_ anything! And if _you'd_ been paying attention nothing would've happened to it!"

"Fine." He looked right at her suddenly, eyes hard. "Which way?"

 _(Shit. Wait. Huh?)_ She was silent as her brain remembered words and how to form them. "What?"

"Which way?"

"You're asking me?" _(Why?)_ " _You_ want to know what _I_ think. Really."

"Yes."

 _(This is new. And… Uh.)_ "Why?" She repeated, unable to process.

He turned away, scoffing. "This is taking too long -"

"No!" She grabbed his arm, if not to stop him from moving then to get his attention. "Why do you suddenly want to know what I think?"

"It has occurred to me, from your theoretical insight, that since _you_ broke my Labyrinth, perhaps you might have a better idea of where to go."

"Oh." _(So, not because you thought I might have a good sense of direction, or because you trust my instinct. Because I'm to blame, again.)_ "This is _not_ my fault, dude. And I don't know the right way. But… I don't know. Let's try going left at the fork." They hit another dead end, instantly. Of course. "Fine. Guess your sense of direction is just as good as mine."

He sighed. "What a pity. I was hoping you'd be useful."

"Oh, _thanks._ You know what? I was hoping you'd be, too. Since you're the one who used _run_ the place." She glared at the ground, willing for another Oubliette entrance to open. Preferably one that was only on his side of the path. When it didn't, she let out a silent sigh.

 _(Ok, fine. Maybe this request is a little easier to grant: Please, Labyrinth, let this be over with. Soon.)_

They looped back to the split and went straight. The ground was now becoming uneven, the stones creating divots that shifted as Sarah walked, her feet sinking in or sliding off. After some time, the silence began to weigh on her, all she could hear was her own struggling in the quiet of the Labyrinth. It felt like it was stretching, growing longer and longer, and it occurred to her rather uncomfortably that it was just them… Just him and her, alone and wandering. She felt the pressure of the stagnant silence, and she wanted suddenly to say something, anything. She wouldn't call what they'd been doing earlier a conversation, per se, but… At least it filled the void. She needed a distraction -

 _(These stones or slate or whatever I'm walking on is so_ weird _. I don't think it's… Stones. They're too - soft? Like if they were rocks, they'd be… Shattered, right? Broken? It's almost like… Wooden. Slabs of wood? And I want to know about the walls... I can tell they have words written on the stones…)_

She tried to look at them while they were walking, but the letters were so faded that she could only make a few, and nothing spelled anything out. At least it wasn't so chilly and dark, the sky sort of a bright… White, clouds covering any blue or sun, but it well lit, and she could see. They met another dead end, doubled back a few times, and then an incline, where she struggled to keep her footing against the angle. They reached the top, then spiraled downhill into a dead end. He turned them back around, and they walked back up, hitting the split again after another winding passage.

 _(How long have we been doing this?)_ She tried checking her watch, but it wasn't moving. _(Of course it doesn't in this place.)_ Still, it had at least been around an hour, she felt. They hit another dead end and he let out a slow breath.

Sarah glanced at him. "What?"

He turned around, not looking at her. "We've been this way before."

"Isn't -" She felt stupid for asking. "Isn't that how it works? Isn't the Labyrinth supposed to trick us?"

"I may not have control over it," He snapped, "But I know when I'm being purposely led in a circle."

"So… What does that mean? You _are_ lost?"

" _We_ are not _lost."_ He almost spat the word. "It means it doesn't want us to get past this - enclosure."

"Ok, well… That sounds like lost to me. Since we're not moving forward, technically, can we just - just rest for a second?" He didn't acknowledge her. _(Goddamnit. Fine. I'm too tired. I'll beg.)_ "Please?"

They were back at the four-way. He let her go, staring up at the sky. She squatted down slightly, close enough to finally see the walls, trying to make sense of the lettering.

"Don't touch anythi-"

"I'm just looking!" She glared at him. _(He's talking to me like I'm Toby.)_ "I want to know what they say, ok? It must mean _something_ …" Sarah gestured at the walls. "Your Labyrinth didn't have anything like this…"

"Useless decoration." He paused. "The fairies would have destroyed and taken the gold in an hour's time."

 _(You're one to talk about useless decoration. Parts of your kingdom looked like Bob Mackie's child got ahold of a bedazzler.)_ "I'm more… Curious about _what_ they say." _(I need to touch the wall, damnit. I think some of the letters are indented. It's not going to hurt me. I don't think.)_

She snuck a look at him from the corner of her eye. He was watching, making sure she didn't get any closer. "We should… Probably get going." She tried in her best casual tone. She stood quickly, and he extended his arm but she tilted her weight away at the last second, pretending to fall towards the wall, reaching out her arm to steady herself, finally able to touch it - the next instant she pulled it back, staring.

"Don't - !" He snatched her hand away.

Sarah peered at the wall. _What th -_

He was shaking her wrist. "What did I say about -"

"No - it's fine - look -" She reached out to feel the wall with her other hand and he grabbed it. She rolled her eyes. "YOU touch it then! It's not going to do anything." He stared at her, then reached out and placed his hand against wall, carefully. Nothing happened. "See? I told you."

He narrowed his eyes angrily, still not releasing her hands. "That was a stupid thing to do."

"Fine, but if you want my help fixing the Labyrinth, then you've got to accept… My…" _(What. Rashness? Stupidity?)_ " _…_ Help."

His scowl deepened. "By letting you act like an idiot? You're a _human,_ you're not magical, and if that had been a _trap -"_

She yanked her hands out of his grip. "But it wasn't, and I've had worse from _you._ I'll take touching a wall over a giant cleaning drill chasing me down a deadend hallway! Besides, If you want to get out of here so bad, it probably means there's something you need to _do_ , like solve a riddle or find a clue, or…" His face was impassive. She rolled her eyes. _(Give me strength.)_ "Look, it didn't hurt me and at least now I know… These aren't _stones._ This feels like… What is this?"

Her voice dropped down to a murmur as she ran her hands on the wall. He watched, a dark scowl. _(Rubber? Wood? No… That's not quite it… What are these? What is this texture?)_ "They're not… Rocks. They're like… Blocks. Of…" _(What?)_ "And what do the letters mean?"

Sarah tried to step closer and the tiles under her shifted, causing her to actually stumble, falling to one knee as she lost her balance. He offered his hand. _(Weirdo.)_

"Can we cease this foolishness? I'd like to continue -"

"Wait -" She ran her hands over the ground. _Oh,_ she _knew_ this texture. God, what _was_ it? More than the walls, this was _so_ familiar - she felt his eyes on her, knew that she looked stupid, picking up pieces of the floor, but - but - "I - I know -"

 _(I know what this is, damnit.)_ Sarah frowned, closing her eyes, feeling, and breathing, breathing in that scent, that _Labyrinth_ scent, like - like - dust, electricity, like the rain, like an old attic or an old - like old books. Old books made from… Aged, musty, paper. That was _it_. "Paper!" She opened her eyes, grinning like an idiot and jumping up. "It's PAPER! This is all paper!"

"What?" He frowned at her.

"It's _paper!_ _Really_ thick paper! This!" She bent down and grabbed a tile. "It's super super thick and - _big,_ but this is _paper!_ look!" Sarah struggled to show him, bending it against the wall. Eventually it gave with a snap.

"So…" He was still staring at her.

"So… Then, if this is paper… These are - must be…" She felt the wall. Yes, that was the texture, not stone, not wood, but… Leather. _Binding. Book_ binding. Of _course_ it felt familiar. "I'm almost sure these are - or were - _books."_


	7. Once

A/N: The last chapter was very short, here's a new one! Thanks for hanging in there + reading, guys - and for putting up with my excessive use of exclamation points in the last A/N (the author wrote, aggressively ending in a ellipsis)…

 **Once**

Sarah felt the grin stretching across her face. _(I'm among friends. Or at least… Familiar faces.)_ She ran her hands up the wall - no, the _spines,_ the book spines, but still couldn't quite read all the letters - "I can almost see them… Here -" She finally found a slightly less faded book, squinting at it. "H… Something… A… N. HAN… I can't get the rest. And then the next word is… Uuhhhhh…. That's either an Y or a G -"

"It's a G."

She jumped. He was right there, inches away, squinting at the letters over her shoulder. "O- ok. Thanks. Um. G… R… E or F? Probably E. T… E again… L?"

He shrugged.

"Han… Gretel… Han and Gret… OH!" She smacked her head with her palm. "Hansel and Gretel! Duh!"

"Friends of yours, I assume." He spoke, turning towards her. She scoffed a laugh, as she looked at him, was that really a joke…?

No. He was being serious.

"N- what? Hansel and Gretel? Hansel… The - the boy… You know… "

He was frowning again. "Haven't had the pleasure."

"No - the - the fairy tale!"

"It's a… Story?"

"A fairy tale - they're little kids, they get lost in the woods… Find a cottage made out of candy, belongs to a witch, she tries to eat them, you know." She stared at his scowling face. "Maybe that's not a thing in… Wherever this is. Labyrinth land. Underground. You guys have fairy tales, right?"

He sniffed, aloof. "We have fairies."

"Oh… Ok. Uh, it doesn't matter. So… Are these all - what does this say? Greek - something. M… G…T… H. Oh! Myths. Greek Myths. And this is… L… A… C… K. Lack… And… the… F… E… A… N… F…. T… A… I … Something… Lack and the FeanFtal something? Is that… Wait. That's a b, not an f… Lack and the Beanf- that can't be - oh! Jack! Jack and the Beanstalk!" She turned in triumph to him. "Jack and the Beanstalk!"

"You keep repeating that like it means something." He looked bored.

"It's… It's another fairy-"

"Another tale. How refreshing."

 _(Someone's grumpy they aren't in control.)_ "These… These must _all_ be fairy tales! So, then -"

He stared at something beyond her, grabbing her arm, as if to start hauling her again.

"What are you -"

He pointed at a fork in front of them, eyes narrow. "This wasn't here before."

"Uh… Whoa. Ok… Good sign, right? Let's try it."

He stepped forward, slowly. The books in the new passage were less thick and rough, thinner and shorter, starting to resemble real books. She could read the lettering better here too, the colors were brighter and -

"Or it's a trap." He said, speaking quietly.

She shook her head. "Check these out - _Faerie myths… The Nightingale… Legends of the Norse… Gods of the world… Fae and Fey… Grimms Classics… Little Mermaid… "_

"I can read."

She waited, but he didn't continue. "Then what do you think they mean!?"

"Haven't read them."

"Oh, thanks for your super helpful input, bookworm. I have, though. They must all mean something, like we're supposed to notice a connection, or…" Her volume trailed off, trying to catch all the titles. "Persephone… Frog Princesses… Matchgirl… I know all these…"

Another fork. He took the right prong, which spiked off in a series of angles. The texture of the paper began to shift as they moved forward, they were was getting thinner, almost like cardboard. Sarah kicked a pile up, and they flew clumsily, great chunky squares. "Why'do you think these are all fairy tales?"

He pursed his lips. "I don't know. Why do you read so much?"

The path spiraled around in a circle, then twisted into another fork.

 _(I didn't read, I studied. I studied so I could learn and so maybe, just maybe, I could find my way back to you, jerk._

 _(Well, not him specifically. I read so I could learn more about… This place. More about… Ludo. And goblins and Hoggle and Didymus and this - all this - magic. So I'd… I'd know.)_

But _he_ didn't need to know that, so Sarah chewed her cheek. They hit another dead end, circling back.

"I think we should try to figure out why there's all these books and what it means - oh, Robin Hood! Nice." Sarah muttered, briefly excited in spite of herself.

He snorted. "I've heard that one. A thief."

"Hey, I _loved_ Robin Hood. And _you're_ a thief. You steal children." The ground went uphill again, and her footing again began to slide. It was now like walking on slippery, crackling leaves and she waded through carefully, wishing for traction or dirt or something to actually dig into with her feet.

"I have told you, time and time again," He said petulantly. " _You_ wished Toby away. I only did as you asked."

"Funny how you stopped listening when I asked for him back."

"You can't undo wishes without paying a price."

"Stupid fairy logic." She muttered. She was having to lean on him a bit now as the hill went up.

"You have also been told that fairies aren't good, kindly little creatures that you suppose they are in your books with tales." He continued as they reached the top of the hill, and a three-way split. He took the middle, which at least panned out into level ground.

"Fairy tales aren't - just about fairies…" Sarah panted, tying to catch her breath. "They're about witches, elves, magic, curses… And yeah, wishes…"

"How captivating." He couldn't have sounded more bored.

"Well, they're meant to be… Like lessons. You read them to learn. The witch is bad, the princess is good, the prince is charming, their love is always true, blah blah blah."

"What about goblin kings?"

She rolled her eyes. Of _course_ this was about him. "Goblins are in lots of stories. Goblins _kings…_ Not so much. There are some." She grinned. "They're usually quite ugly and small." _(Think about that, glitterpants.)_

"… Like Hoggle."

"Don't be mean! And, no, not like him, more like - most of your loyal subjects." A sudden thought occurred to her, making her frown. "Although… Wait… Why don't you - you're the King of Goblins."

"How astute of you."

"But you're not a Goblin… Are you?"

He turned to look at her, raising one of those arching eyebrows. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." _(That's why I'm asking.)_

He looked forward again as the ground sloped upwards. "What if I was?"

"Huh?" She hadn't expected him to keep going.

"What if I was a goblin? With pointy teeth and hairy ears and -"

"I'd be… Impressed with your shape-shifting." _(If you're trying to frighten me by revealing you're a goblin, think again. I've seen goblins, and they don't scare me.)_ "But I don't think… I don't think that's true. You don't _act_ like a goblin."

"Oh?" The eyebrow was back up. "What do I act like?"

 _(_ … _A child. Some might say a sociopath, but I think you act like a child. A spoiled child, but still a kid. You like shiny toys, you don't like sharing or losing, you constantly want attention, selfish -)_

She realized he was expecting an answer. "Uh… I don't know. A… A… An owl." _(A proud little haughty owl, showing off when he flies, sneaking up behind you silently, glaring at everything. Yeah. An owl. Or maybe an owlet. That fits. Is that why he - always turns into o-)_

He _laughed._ Sarah stared at him. It was more of a condescending snicker, but - it was… Humorous.

"Your fairy tales teach you… Interesting logic." He remarked.

 _(Was that a… Compliment?)_ She didn't think so. But at least he wasn't insulting her. _(I can't think of anything to respond to that. I'll take a weird laugh over arguing I guess.)_ She just nodded.

They walked on in silence. She concentrated on her footing and the book spines. Each of them were familiar, books she'd read and re-read - Thumbelina, Hercules, Tales of Loki, Red Riding Hood… They hit a dead end. He turned back, going downhill, Sarah slipping several times on the pages at their new angle. He was frowning again.

 _(Probably at my klutziness_. _Not my fault I keep falling! And you're the one who insists on hanging onto me, it's throwing my balance.)_

The path ended again, another wall, another dead end. He pressed his hand up against it, as if willing it to move. "Your books of tales grow enervating."

"Not mine, but I agree." She leaned on it. "Why does it look like this. The books."

"Hm?"

"Like," She massaged her temples, trying to think. "Why books. Why not… Stone… Or something. Your Labyrinth was rocks, hedges, that kind of stuff. More - natural. Although, I guess there are book mazes. I think those are a thing."

He snorted. "In your world, perhaps."

She ignored him, squatting and grabbing at the ground for the paper again.

Wait.

There were patterns on the paper - faded and faint, but -

"Pages." Sarah breathed.

"Pages of what?"

"Of _course_. If the walls are books, then the ground isn't - isn't paper. It's - pages. Pages and words and…" She started picking them up, holding them to the light. It wasn't a patten; it was _letters._ Words, the words of the stories, ones she knew. "These are like… Pinocchio! Or… This one is maybe - Goldilocks, here's - well, this just explains folklore, but - here's the story of Prometheus!" _(Stop geeking out. He probably doesn't know what those even mean.)_

"What does this tell you?"

"I… I don't know. It's just weird. Like - these are pages to the books - but there's no _fairy tale_ mazes, not even in my world, there's just - book mazes. And they have normal floors. So why… This. And why aren't we _getting_ anywhere, if you can - can feel the path. Something's… Off. Plus," She added, closing her eyes in concentration, "In your Labyrinth, I would've… You know, I would've been onto a different part by now. A different type of Labyrinth, like stone or hedges or whatever."

"I doubt that."

His eyes were dark. She tried again. "No - I mean, I went to all kinds of different levels. I was in the forest, the hedge Labyrinth, the bog -"

"I wouldn't call _getting lost_ and _trapped_ exactly succeeding in traveling, would you?" There was a coolness in his voice.

She faltered, confused, because _that's exactly what I did and I succeeded so why -_ she shot him a glance, trying to choose her next words carefully. "Well - I - at least it was a change of scenery. I just - we've been stuck in this one for - for a while now."

"I didn't _ask_ for a change of scenery, I merely said -"

"Calm down your majesty, I didn't mean -" Why was he getting all pissy? What did she say? ' _I would've been onto a different part by now'? Was that it?_ Did he think she was bragging? "I mean… I had a lot of help. A lot. From lots of people. So. That's probably, why, you know - I moved through so quickly? Uh… "

Her words hung in the air as he turned his back, looking at the walls.

 _(Shit. I didn't mean to call his Labyrinth easy or anything. But on the other hand, it's not like I said that._ He's _the one who read into my words! Whatever. He's just mad because we're not making progress. Progress… Wait.)_

 _(The reason we're not making progress is because something has to happen, right? We need to find a secret door or answer a riddle or something… That's the only way we moved forward last time. So… What's the clue with these books? Do we need to read the right one? Pull the right book and a secret door sweeps open?)_

But none of the books stood out as she looked around. Snow White and Rose Red… Puss in Boots… Aladdin… There wasn't any _order_ to these books, either. They just repeated over and over, weren't separated by genres or authors, or… Anything… Sarah reached her hand out to the wall, touching the first book there, Cinderella. It was leather bound, a light blue, thin, the gold lettering sparkling in the light. She tugged with her fingertips carefully and it slipped out, slightly dusty. Sarah looked apprehensively at the wall but it did nothing. She cracked open the book, flipping through the pages - illustrated photos of poor Cinderella sweeping, at the ball, the Fairy Godmother… She flipped back to the front, maybe if she could skim through it -

'There was a girl whose name was Ella. She lived in - '

Sarah frowned. The placement of the words on the page were odd, like… It just started in the middle. The sentence sat in the center of the page, slightly set off to the right. Something was… It was missing something. She cocked her head, then turned back to the wall. Another book was poking out slightly, further up. She crouched, wiggling it gently, turning to the first page. This sentence was oddly placed too, floating in the middle.

The back of her neck prickled and she looked up, feeling his eyes on her. Sure enough, there he was. Staring.

"Uh…" _Was he still mad?_

"What do you think you're doing, exactly?"

"I - well, touching them didn't seem to do anything so I -" _(Don't know.)_ "Does… Does this look weird to you?" She held the book out to him.

"Hold still." He reached suddenly, pulling it towards him, his fingers wrapping all the way around her hand. She jumped, but he ignored her as he squinted at the page. "… No. We should keep mov-"

"Wait - just - can you grab some more books? Carefully?"

He blinked, holding her and her gaze for a moment before letting go, turning away to the wall. "Why?"

"Something's… Weird." She looked back to the books, frowning. _(Something's off. What is missing here. The text placement. The -)_

A heap of books landed at her side. She jumped again, startled. The wall was now filled with gapping holes, books ripped from it as he pulled them out, carefully. He was still searching for more. "Oh! Geez, you're… That was fast. That's enough. More than enough. Um… Thanks."

 _(Why does saying thank you feel so weird?)_

 _(Because he's weird. I'm not used to saying thank you to a kidnapper, that's why. Now focus!)_

She cracked open the books, narrowing her eyes and scanning. "… The princesses were always exhausted in the morning and their shoes -" She tossed it aside, grabbing the next one. "He was the best tailor in the land, and -" Next. "Jack's father had died years ago, leaving him and his mother -" Next. "This particular dancing ball was to be held on the eve of… "

 _(There's something wrong about the way this first page looks. The rest of the pages are fine but the first one, the words are sitting so awkwardly in the middle, and it's -)_

He cleared his throat and she looked up into his face. He was crouching there, silent, right next to her, his fierce eyes searching her for an explanation. She completely lost her train of thought.

"Uhhhhh…." She forced herself to look back down at the page. Yes. That was what she'd been trying to say. The page. The words on the page. "All of these… All of these books… The word placement is odd on the first page. _Just_ the first page. The sentence floats in the middle, it's like - it's like they're missing… They're missing another sentence? It just starts suddenly with the characters, or the setting, we don't get at the first part, the beginning, it suddenly kind of… Goes off in the middle."

He stood. "Is that important?"

She gave his boots a scathing book, not wanting to meet his eyes. _(I feel stupid saying this out loud. This was so much easier when I was just stumbling around by myself without a clue and you weren't there watching and judging me for every mistake I made.)_

 _(On the other hand, it's not like he has any bright ideas. So yes, yes it is important.)_ "You can't just start the stories without a beginning. And… And we haven't really… We haven't started the Labyrinth, so… So… "

"What do you call all this, then?"

"It's -" She tried to find the words to explain herself, wrinkling her forehead in concentration. "It's - a Labyrinth, but we've been walking in circles for miles, right? We haven't left it or done or discovered anything. It - we're missing something - these books are missing something… Fairy tale-y."

 _(Wow, that sounded worse out loud than I thought it would.)_ But he didn't say anything, just crossed his arms, looking grumpy. She ignored him.

 _(Think, Williams. I know this is important. I know it is, I can feel it. We're going in a circle, and I think… I think the Labyrinth isn't letting us pass because we haven't started right, or we haven't done something correctly to pass through. This isn't about just wandering until we find the next part Labyrinth, this is about doing something, a test, a riddle, so think… These are all fairy tales, fairy tales have good vs evil, right vs wrong, happily ever after, when the light overcomes the darkness… So - what's missing from this? The beginning, the first part. All these books are missing something. So how do you start a fairy tale?_

 _(… The beginning. The only beginning.)_

"Once upon a time?" She ventured, quietly.

Nothing happened. She hadn't really expected it to.

 _(Maybe… Well, but look at the books.)_ She flipped open another cover. _(The words are missing on the page, so… So… So a story doesn't always start with saying it out loud. No, a story starts when you - when you write it down. I need - I need my pen!)_

She dropped the book, rummaging in her bag, looking, looking - _there!_ She pressed it to the paper, scribbling. No ink. She tried again, groaning. Nothing. _(Shit, did I bring a pencil? Yes!)_

She tried the pencil, pressing harder. Nothing. "What!?"

There was no lead in it.

 _(Stupid, stupid idiot. Mechanical pencil. Why didn't I bring a normal pencil? Why?)_ She turned to him slowly. "Got… Anything to write with?"

He shook his head as he leaned on the opposite wall. "What are you hoping to accomplish?"

"I - well, this is a shot in the dark, but… But we're _in_ a story, right? A bunch of them, a maze -"

"Labyrinth."

"- made of fairy tales, of books, of legends and myths. But… None of them start right, they're all missing the first sentence, so… I thought, they need - the words - the story, _our_ story, it needs to start, like, properly, right? And, so, to do that, you have to, you know, start it, and you need the right words, which all these books are missing… "  
She was flipping through the book in one hand and grabbing pages from the ground with the other, holding them up and babbling and she knew it, but she had an idea. _The_ idea, and it wasn't much but it sounded like a plausible one, there were clues here and she could see them. And it was better than anything else they'd tried _and besides I don't see him spouting theories and also…_

 _I've solved this Labyrinth before. Yes, I had help, but I did it, I did it with crazy ideas and stupid ideas, but I did the impossible, so… I think it's worth a try._

These were her fairy tales and books _,_ she'd studied them, she'd learned these, all to come back to return and now she had to be the hero, she had to save them, this was - this was just a quest, just a riddle, follow the crumbs, Gretel, it's just a story and she -

She knew stories.

And she knew how they started.

"So, I think," She continued, "I think - I have to _write_ the words, I can't just say them out loud. But my pen is broken, and my pencil just - !" She gasped, suddenly, in pain, and looked down to see her index finger oozing red. She'd sliced it on the pages as she dug through them. "Oh, shit. Ow."

He was suddenly beside her again.

"Gah! It's - it's fine!" She jumped and leaned away as he reached for her arm.

"It is not _fine -"_ He snapped, grabbing at her.

"No - no! Wait!" Sarah stared at her hand, the blood spilling down the finger in streaks, dribbling off, staining the pages -

Staining the pages.

"Wait." She held out her good arm to ward him off. "I have an idea - just - just _trust me."_

 _(What am I saying? Trust me to be an idiot? I have no idea if this is going to work.)_

He looked at her, but allowed her to pull her hand from his grasp. The blood was rolling down it rapidly. She glanced at the pages, at the faint words barely visible. She grabbed one, holding her hand out, the cut didn't feel that deep but it was bleeding an awful lot, was it enough or -

 _(Focus, Williams.)_

"What are you going to -" He began, but she ignored him, pressing her finger to the paper.

It touched, the red bleeding into the fibers and staining into it. _Perfect. I can't write that small, but - but -_

"O…" She dragged her finger across page in a circle before laying it back on the ground and grabbing a new one. "N…" Another. "C… E…" Laying each page out, in a row, one letter per page, spelling, moving her finger across them as smoothly as she could, the dust getting in her cut and stinging a bit, but she was spelling. Tracing the letters over the pages, onto them, the blood flowing evenly.

 _(Pens and pencils might not work, but maybe I can -)_ "U… P… O… N… A… T… I… M… E…"

She finished the last stroke of E, her finger still touching the last page, hovering as she placed it down at the end of the line, waiting. Waiting for… Something. Anything. She didn't know what she was doing. She didn't have a plan, but writing the words out seemed _right_ somehow, she had to start somewhere, and -

Warmth spread through Sarah's arm suddenly, no, not warmth. _Heat,_ pure hot, rushing up her arm and - she was knocked off her feet as a blast of boiling air shot through her. She was in a flurry of paper, pages both cushioning her and covering her, covered everything, and she was sinking. Her bag was swallowed, she couldn't see, her legs were under - something hauled her up, dragging her _out_ , onto ground, a solid, hard, _real_ ground.

 _What's happening?_ She blinked. Angry eyeliner swam into her view. "Heyyy…. What…?" Sarah managed.

The eyeliner squinted, looking even more angry. "That was entirely _idiotic."_

Her hand was grabbed, her finger squeezed.

"Ow -" She began. And then her arm was held in front of her face. It was _caked_ in blood, her sleeve a weird gradient, the end of it a dark, black wet red, fading down into a murky brown at her elbow, her hand tacky and still dripping. "Whoa…" Come to think if it, she did feel a little light-headed. "Wha…!?"

He scowled at her. "Magic has a _taste_ for blood."

"It… Worked?" She grinned giddily. The world was spinning a lot, but it wasn't books anymore, it was solid, and there was a lot of sunlight, and… And green. _Trees. Real, forest, trees. We're… We're out._

"It _worked,_ yes. It also _drained_ half your arm and tried to _take_ you after you wrote the… The spell. Look at you." Clutching her wrist, he waved her flopping, dripping hand in front of her.

Her brain was starting to work again. She'd fucked up, hadn't she. Somehow. In trying to help. "Oh - yeah, yeah I kinda knew that… My finger's fine though, look. Just a little… Red." She tried to wiggle it, managing a twitch. "Redrum. Haha." His scowl deepened and Sarah gave up. "It's finger. Fine. It's fine. I got a - a bandaid in my backpack, no worries."

 _(My arm feels a bit numb.)_

"You "kinda knew that"?" His scowl was dark.

"I mean -" She pulled her backpack around, clumsily, unzipping it after a few times. "I mean - yeah, like - like I read how - magic and blood - blood curses, and blood brothers - like it's essential in really dark deep magic stuff, so - so I thought, my pen broke and if - If I - I wrote it down… With blood, it might work, the Labyrinth might… Do something, but I didn't know it would… Make me _bleed_ … You know, I just read, and so I thought, with my blood… And my finger… I'd… Fix it… ET fix. Phone home."

She twitched her finger again. She was conscious, but her words weren't quite there yet. His, however, were.

"You _read."_

His voice stabbed at her but she shrugged, at last finding the bandaid, ripping it open with her mouth, trying to slap it on. It lost the stickiness instantly, the blood covering it. She sighed, starting the search over.

"You read and decided to "try it out". You have no idea what you did. What you're doing. Incredible." His grip on her wrist tightened.

She glared at him fuzzily. She wanted to say a lot of things. Things like, _ow, that hurts_ and _I got us out of the books - what did you expect me to do - I didn't think the Labyrinth would pull as renegade red cross and leech a quart out of me - of course I don't know what I'm doing - at least something I did worked -_

But instead she went with: "How'd you think I got through the first Labyrinth?"

"I thought maybe you'd _reflected_ and _learned_ in your absence."

That was it. Some selective vocabulary came back, very quickly.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean? I'm supposed to anticipate every kind of vampire book magic that gets thrown at me now!? What, you - you wanted me to _research_ while you cut me out of - all this? Cut off my friends, let me study a little bit? To, like, _PROVE_ myself for you and this - this - what is this, some kind of _stupid test!?_ " Her brain couldn't contain all her points. She didn't even know where to start. "Reflect!? Learn!? I spent hours - _hours_ \- just trying to communicate with - you - ANYONE - to try and get some kind of - OF AN ANSWER, AND YOU JUST - YOU - LEFT - LET ME -"

She couldn't finish that sentence, wherever it was going to go. Her throat was suddenly incredibly tight, her voice high and thin. She had about 30 seconds left before she either burst into tears or had a panic attack. Or both. She was feeling generous today. Sarah gathered one more thought, trying to lower her voice to maintain some semblance of calm. She managed a trembling warble.

"I just bled all over your shitty Labyrinth, which by the way, _nice navigating, -… Mr. - Mr. - Compass -"_ Not her best, but she wasn't done. " _I_ got us out, _I_ have _zero_ magic - _zero -_ and all I get is yelled at!? Fine. _You're welcome_."

Her voice was absorbed into the trees. She yanked her hand away and stood, making it all of two steps away before she had to stop, stumbling and too dizzy to move further, the world still spinning. She could feel the tears wanting to break free, but he didn't need to see them.

 _Hold it in hold it in come on, you just got a bloody arm, you can stand holding in a few tears, keep it together, just move forward. He doesn't get to see that, he doesn't get to -_

Her wrist was grabbed again, this time from behind.

" _Let. Go."_ Her voice cracked, and she hated it, but she couldn't move away.

"No."

His voice was impassive, and she didn't want to look at his face, and his judging eyes or uncaring expression. She wasn't crying yet, but she was teetering on the brink. She forced shaky breath after shaky breath in and out. It was like trying to breathe very rapidly through a straw.

And then he spoke, his voice quiet, a murmur. "Thank you."

Her wrist went limp.

 _(What? What am I supposed to do with that? Thank you?)_

Shock and confusion punched into her frustration in the gut.

 _(What do I say to that. Is this him apologizing? This is worse. I don't know what to - what?)_

The same quiet tone. "Blood and magic are extremely… Potent. I didn't realize what you were doing and I - didn't want something - to go wrong."

 _(What? Something to go wrong?)_ "I'm trying to _fix_ your precious Labyrinth, not break it."

 _(Hey, Sarah, he's trying to apologize here - I think - how about we don't attack him?)_ It didn't matter. She was too mad. There was an uncomfortable silence. _(Am I supposed to say something? Is he waiting?)_ She tried moving forward. His grip tightened on her wrist.

"I… Wasn't referring to the Labyrinth."

She tried to connect his thoughts, turning back just slightly. _(I didn't want something to go wrong… I wasn't referring to the Labyrinth. What is he talking about? He didn't want something to go wrong with… With me? No… What?)_ "Wait, so… You - you were… _Worried_ about me?"

He spoke instantly, almost cutting off her sentence. "You spent hours trying to talk to me?"

"That's - not -" _(We're not talking about that.)_ She finally glanced at him, and his answering gaze was a challenge. _Answer for answer. You tell me I'll tell you. Well, I'm not ready to go down that road._ She paused, then switched tactics. If he wasn't going to yell at her anymore, then… "We should… Go."

He held onto her wrist a second more, as if that depended on her answer, then released. She sat again, heavily, and found a wipe in the depths of her bag to clear away some of the blood. At least her finger had stopped bleeding. When she'd finished bandaging and managed to stand without swaying, he grabbed her good hand, pulling her up and pinning it under his elbow again. She opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it, letting him lead her forward.

 _(Why does he keep doing that? Well, I mean… After I just almost got bled out I kind of see why he'd pin me to his side, but… This is so uncomfortable, like we're just heading out going for a stroll -)_

 _(No, no, don't yell at him, don't fight - he just - he just actually - he said… Thank you.)_

The thought was astounding. The King of Goblins had said Thank You. For her help. And almost said sorry. After she'd screamed at him and nearly burst into tears, but still. She felt a _little_ bad about screaming, but not enough to try to apologize to _him._

 _(I'll take the win here. I got us through, and I'll take that apology as a win.)_

 _(Worried about me. I don't - know what to do with that.)_

 _(I think that's just his way of - trying to say sorry. Plus you're the only person who might be able to fix this. I'd be worried about me too. Either way, it's not worth thinking about, because… Well, look.)_

The books had opened into grass, with a small trail road woven in-between them. The new Labyrinth, Sarah realized. And beyond that a new path, one that leading directly into a forest.


	8. A Rough in the Diamonds

A/N: Welcome, new followers, and thank you for reading/favoriting! This chapter has a bit of canon-messing about but I have my reasons which I'll probably explain about the next time I get to cranking out an A/N (it's not really story-imperative, but it made sense to me enough that I'll clarify next round basically). Cheers, all! And thank you again!

 **A Rough in the Diamonds**

It was stunningly green, layers of emerald grass and patches of bright moss, the sun streaming through the trees, adding in yellow and gold. But it was still quiet; there was no wind or chirping, no crickets or rustling in the trees. The trunks were thick and textured, and on the ground there perfectly round rocks, some daisies, a few white mushrooms and - were those crystals? She squinted. Yes, those were crystals. Growing in amongst the moss and rocks. Sarah rolled her eyes. It was the perfect, most beautiful forest she'd ever seen.

She hated it.

 _This is basically every forest in a fairy tale ever. This forest screams 'Come in, little kiddie. I've got candy and cake and nice friendly wolves who are handy with a disguise. You won't get hurt. Much.'_

It was beautiful, but it wasn't… Real.

The dirt trail branched into a fork. He paused, then went right. The trees were closer together here, forming a definite path, their trunks a rich chocolate brown, and they were shorter, only a bit little taller than him. They reminded her of… Of an orchard, branches weaving together to create a roof above them.

"It's… Pleasant."

Sarah jumped at his sudden voice. He glanced down at her arm when she jolted.

"Uh… " _(Quick, recover.)_ "The forest? It's…" _(It's overcompensating for something.)_ "Very… Picturesque." She felt his eyes on her as he tilted his head. Now she was nervous about the forest and his gaze. "What."

"You are… Uneasy."

"I -" _(How to put this into words.)_ "It doesn't matter."

The path branched again. He went right.

 _(What's the challenge here, I wonder? Am I supposed to figure out another clue?)_

Nothing seemed to be going wrong.

 _(Let it go, Sarah.)_

But she couldn't. She wasn't looking at the path, the trees, between the branches, because… She was waiting for something -

"What are you craning your neck about for?"

"Uh…" _(What do I say?)_ "I'm waiting… For… Whatever is going to happen." _(What?)_ "I feel like… We're supposed to do something. Be looking for something. Like with the books. But now we're solving whatever… Whatever's going to be in a magical forest."

"… Wherever did you get that idea?"

"Like… In a story, this is exactly where we'd get attacked by, like, a wolf, or a granny who turned out to be a witch, or a curse, or a dark - a dark sorcerer…"

He scoffed a chuckle. _"I'm_ the only dark sorcerer in this forest you would have cause to fear."

She rolled her eyes. "I hardly think you're a dark sorcerer."

"Oh?" His tone was even, but his eyebrow raised. "What would you call me? Besides an… Owl."

Sarah frowned into the trees. They were going uphill now, steeply.

 _(What is he, exactly? Does he really want me to guess?)_ "Well… I suppose you could be a sorcerer. Just maybe not a dark one." It was a careful answer, but she didn't want to call him a fairy or something stupid and offend him.

"Ha! What kind of sorcerer would I be then? What kind of wondrous white magic would kidnap children and rule over creatures such as goblins?"

"Well… But that's not -" _(That's not evil, evil. That's more… Mischievous. Tricky. Chaotic… Neutral.)_ "That's - ok, that's dark, but it's more - grey. You don't go around - like - killing and plundering -"

"And how would you know if I did such things?"

The hill went steeply downhill now. She needed to watch her step, but she looked at him, curiosity winning over. "Have you?"

"Perhaps."

 _(Great.)_ She'd done this speech to her parents when she was younger, too. _You don't know me, Karen! You don't know my life!_ She rolled her eyes. "Ok, edgelord. I get it. I don't know you or the great mystic power you weld over the land and all who enter it."

"By that admission, I would have power over _you_ , then."

She slipped, stumbling suddenly at his words and the path. _(What? What did he just say!? Did he plan that? Did -)_ "Well, you have - you know, magic - and that, like, influences, like -" _Oh god?_ What was she saying? "Like, you controlled _where_ I went in the Labyrinth, so I guess, technically, you kind of controlled where I went, which is like a controlling - power? But like - you didn't - I had free will, right, I was able to move and meet people and take shortcuts and -" She was babbling full-speed. _(Change the conversation!)_

"Free will. I suppose. Have -"

 _(Change the conversation, and doN'T LOOK AT HIM!) "But_ I don't think you're a goblin, and I don't think you're an _evil_ sorcerer. But anything's possible." She finished, sweating only slightly.

"And what _do_ you think I am, human?"

His tone wasn't - accusatory, but it was a challenge. They'd reached the bottom of the hill, the trail was wider now, flattening out as the forest branched into different paths.

"Uhhhhhh…" _(Tread lightly, Williams. Nice conversation switch, by the way. Really nailed the topic there. Now you only have to worry about not insulting him or saying something accidentally-magically-racist. Well done, idiot.)_ "Hmmm…" _(Stall.)_ "Is this - is this your true form?"

"It is."

"Let me -" _(Buy myself some time)_ "- look at you." She didn't know. She didn't know at all. He stopped, dropping her arm. His eyes met hers with a smile toying around his lips that taunted her. She circled behind him so he couldn't see her blush. _(Stop staring at me like that.)_ It _was_ a challenge.

"Admiring the view?"

"I'm trying to guess, you -" _(Asshole.)_ Her face was definitely red now. She dipped her head down so her hair covered it.

"By looking at the ground?" His words had laughter in them.

 _(What are you?)_ "You - you can change shape, but I think if you know the right magic, anyone can do that."

"Not _anyone._ " That got his icy tone back. _(Aha.)_

"Tall… Glittery… Magic… Steals children… Time master… " _(But none of those describe an exact being.)_

"Clock's ticking."

"Oh, so now I have a limit? Fine." His eyes met hers. _(His eyes. His eyes are so different from mine, so different from humans, but so close -)_ "Wait."

An idea. If his eyes were different, then - she went to his side. His head followed her. "Can - can I touch your hair?" She held up her non-bandaged hand.

"You… Yes. May."

He rotated his head sideways - _like an owl -_ and her fingers met his mane. She ran her hand through it, trying not to gasp. It was so soft it was almost slippery, like running her hand through - through - _(seaweed.)_

 _(What? No, that wasn't it but -)_

Not seaweed, that wasn't the word, but it was silky, and fine and - she touched the feathers mixed in. _(You added those, you liar. True form my ass.)_ But that wasn't what she was looking for. She lifted her hand again, placing it by his temple, pulling hair back to reveal -

 _Aha._

He grabbed her wrist. Now it was her turn to smirk, narrowing her eyes. "How old are you? In human years?"

"I don't have an age."

"Well -" She pulled her hand away, but held his gaze. "I don't know. But my best guess would be - an elf." _(I recognize pointed ears when I see them, buddy.)_

He started at her, face unreadable. Then he cocked his head _\- just_ like an owl. "Interesting." He took her elbow and pulled her towards the left-branching path.

"Wait! Did I get it right?"

"Shhh! Quiet!" He froze suddenly and she jolted to a stop, catching her breath. He waited a moment, looking around, then pulled her forward again.

"What? Did you hear something?" Her heart was racing. "What -" She looked at his face. He was smirking again. "Wha- what? What is it?"

His smile widened, he looked completely unperturbed and - _(Wait a minute.)_

"You didn't hear anything, did you!?" The smile became a shit-eating grin, his pointy teeth gleaming in the bright sun. "You just wanted me to shut up!"

His tone was the definition of innocence. "I've no idea what you mean."

 _Was - was he_ teasing _her?_

"… Fine." _(What is this. What is he doing.)_ "I don't know if I'm right, but you never said I was wrong, so I'm calling myself a winner." She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Cheater."

"I never said I would tell you the truth. I asked your best guess."

"Whatever." She looked straight ahead. "Elf." She added, under her breath.

No response, just silence. Then:

"Human." Just as quietly.

What? _(What the fuck?)_

He was actually teasing her? Or was he saying she right? She held her breath. She didn't know how to react to this. He was probably just… Just messing with her.

 _(Weirdo. Weirdo elf-man-boy-child.)_ She was flustered. _(But this is how it's like… Remember, Sarah? Remember being 16, and everything here was new and weird and he was - a danger, an invitation - every question met with a question, threat for threat, temper for temper, even… Wonder with wonder - ok, stop it. Be in the present.)_

They hit another fork. He chose right, and they spiraled into a dead end. They looped back and left, the path becoming tighter. He considered, then shoved her behind him.

"Hold the cloak."

"Oh, _now_ we like idea of me holding onto that." She grabbed it, looking at his hair as it lay on the fabric, catching the light. The long feathers were straight, sticking out slightly in some parts. _(I wonder if at the base of his neck is hair, or if it fades into tiny feathers. How would that feel if I touched it? Probably like petting a molting bird.)_ She tried to look, but his hair blocked his neck completely.

"Don't let go."

"I know how to hang on to a cloak." She glared at the back of his head.

 _(Really, Williams? Have you had much experience in that department?)_

 _(Ah, thank you for joining us, voice of skepticism. The cloak is not the point! The point is I know how to - to do things, like grab a cape.)_

 _(Do things? Oh, like that one time you poured blood all over paper and created a book sinkhole?)_

 _(For the record, I have no idea what I did, and whatever I accomplished was an accident, but I was trying to help and I don't know what I was doing, but I do know how to hold a cape, so -)_

She was exhausting herself. She went back to looking at his hair. it was flowing as they walked, even in the windless forest. The layers looked better on him, it was a more - less spikes and uneven, more cohesive, more elegant -

 _(Elegant? Him? Calm down, Martha Stewart. Do not forget what he is, and what you're doing here.)_

What _was_ she doing here?

The hill was getting even more steep. They'd reached a plateau a while back, but it'd been uphill since. The forest was endless and unchanging, just over-cheerful colors and close trees and now steep.

 _(What_ am _I doing here? Walking in trees like a hike on a sunday? I'm doing the Labyrinth, but how do I fix something when I don't know how I broke it? IF I broke it?)_

"Hey -" She began. "Goblin dictator, why -"

He stopped and she ran into his back.

"Oof. That was a joke, I didn't mean - I mean, what I mean was - my sense of humor is -" She already backtracking. _(I got too comfortable. He made one teasing joke and here I am assuming I can throw around insults like a -)_

"What?" He sounded distracted.

"What what?" _(Did he not hear me?)_ She tried to look around him, but between his height and the tightness of the trail, she couldn't see. "What are you saying what to?"

He turned sideways in the path, and she poked her head forward.

" _Whoa._ "

The trees, tightly packed together, wove into a round circular archway, a mess of intertwining branches and green. Beyond the arch was a clearing, and in that were more trees, growing further apart, every few feet, neatly placed. Their branches low to the ground, weighed down by - by -

Fruit. Well, not quite. Jewels. Gold. Diamond cherries and silver pears and - Sarah stared. The sun hit the fruit and the light bounced off in rainbows and fragmented shards, the ground like stained kaleidoscope glass. She needed to get closer to see it, to - her sight was blocked by silver hair. He reached the arch, putting up his arms to block it.

"Hey!"

"Wait." It was a command. His hair caught the light even more here, glowing like a halo around his head.

"What am I waiting for?"

He stepped into the orchard. Nothing happened.

"I'm coming out." She shoved him forward.

"You -" He turned to look back at her but was mesmerized by a nearby tree, crammed with opals in the shape of every fruit possible.

"This is _amazing._ " Sarah clambered through the arch, strolling forward and shielding her eyes. She walked up to a tree with leaves made of topazes. "What do you think all these ones mean? Like compared to the normal tre-" She pointed with her hand towards the archway entrance.

Where the entrance had been.

"What th -" She looked around. Did she - did she miss it? Was it somewhere else - _(No. No. This is not what happens here, Williams. You do not lose the Labyrinth entrance, it loses you. It is gone. It is gone and - and - where is he?)_ "Shit."

She spun around, searching. He'd just been here, right by her side, he had gone through and then - he'd faced left - she ran in the direction, her heart sinking, he wasn't there _this asshole, dragging me along, holding my arm, yanking me around, stopping me from moving, he sees one sparkly orchard and loses it - no,_ he _loses_ me _-_ "Hello!? Fuck!" He wasn't there. She spun around again, searching.

 _(Come on come on do not do this you fucking idiot please do not leave me like this here do not leave me do not leave me do not leave -)_

Her breath was in her throat but her throat wasn't big enough, or maybe there wasn't enough air in the orchard but either way she was lost and he was gone and she couldn't breathe and -

"I like this one."

Air she didn't have wheezed out from her lungs. _There._ His voice carried, dreamily, as he stood next to an especially sparkly tree, some kind of mica dust, dripping with grapes and god knew what else.

"What the fuck, dude!?" She struggled to inhale enough air to yell at him. _(Please, body, do not do this. Calm down. I found him. Turn off the adrenaline. Please.)_

"I like it." He was staring at the fruit, not even a glance in her direction.

"… Of course you do." _(I've seen ravens with more self-control when it comes to shiny things.)_ "Hey, your majesty, remember how you didn't want me to leave your side the whole time we were walking?"

"… Hm."

"Well, I just had to sprint over here to find you, hiding behind a tree. I left your sight. Does that matter to you!? Remember the not-getting-lost plan!?"

"… I could see you."

"And yet, you didn't seem to hear me." She folded her arms. He wasn't listening, continuing to stare at the fruit. "Stop ogling the tree!"

"… I was paying… Atten…"

She waited for him to finish, but he didn't. "Oh yeah? So where's the entrance then?"

"Over… " He flapped his hand vaguely, gracefully gesturing to the left.

" _Where!?"_

"Stop being so shrewish." He snapped, finally looking away. "It's right -" He frowned, then started walking.

"Yeah. Ok. That's what I was saying." She rolled her eyes, but at least he was moving. _(And he's finally hearing me.)_ "What do we - hey!"

He wasn't walking towards where the entrance, he was walking towards another tree, this one full of diamonds. She had to jog slightly after him, his long legs outreaching hers. "What are you - STOP!"

He was reaching towards a plum fire-opal, his long fingers extended, the tip of his index an inch from the fruit-

Sarah crashed into him, trying to shove him. It wasn't the attack she'd been planning but there wasn't time and she'd just rammed without thinking. It had no impact, and she ricocheted off.

He looked down at her, his body motionless. "What were you trying to accomplish?"

She continued to stumble sideways a few steps - his body wasn't hard, but the momentum of running headfirst into a stationary object threw her. "Ugh - what are you made of, ow - I SAID NO!"

His hand had moved toward the plum again while she'd been talking. She grabbed his arm, swinging up her legs from the ground so that she hung off, trying to weigh him down.

Again nothing happened. His arm remained motionless as he looked at her.

"Do - not - pick - the fruit!" She glared at him, huffing. "Also, why won't you move!?"

"I don't feel like it. And you've become rather light." She didn't like the dreamy, offhanded way he said it, like she was a casual object.

"Ok, remember how with the books you didn't want me to touch them because we didn't know what the trap or the test or whatever it was meant? Remember that? Shouldn't we try to figure out what this fruit does before we pick them? … Hello!?"

He stared at the tree. It was like he couldn't even hear her.

 _What is_ wrong _with him?_

He was going to ignore her and reach for the fruit, she could feel it. Toby acted the same way when he was feeling cocky. She took a steeling breath and then darted in front of the Goblin King, getting in his face. Well, it was more his chest given her height, but it was the best she could do, as she waved her hands in front of his eyes.

 _(How far am I going to have to go to get his attention? Am I going to have to slap the King of Goblins?)_ She wanted to, but that wasn't the objective here. "Listen to me, you - stupid fairy! Don't pick that!"

He looked at her, _really_ looked at her. His eyes were doing that thing where they tried to bore a hole in her skull. She gulped. "Stop!"

"Did you just give the _King_ of _Goblins_ an order?" His eyes narrowed, his height towered over hers as he glared and Sarah shrank back, running into the trunk of the tree.

"I'm trying to save the third-person-speaking lunatic from a really obvious trap!" She breathed out. He looked very scary. "I just - I don't think you should pick the fruit until -"

Her voice was getting trapped in her throat. _(Good job getting his attention, Sarah. Too bad it looks like now his focus is on killing you.)_

" _Why?"_ His tone was quiet, but it was deadly.

"Theopeningisgoneandthisisreally-" _(Breathe. Or at least, slow down.)_ "The - the opening disappeared from the Labyrinth - we don't have an exit now - and we're in so deep - and - there's no path anymore and this is so pretty and sparkly, but I think - I think it's trying to trick us - and - and I just think we shouldn't pick any fruit yet." Silence. She didn't open her eyes. "We - we can pick _all_ of it when we figure out - figure out what place this is. Ok?" More silence. "Please?" She ventured, waiting for a response, but there was none. She finally opened her eyes -

He was gone.

 _Shit._

No, there he was, a few feet away, at _another_ tree, his hand outstretched, touching the tip of a moonstone - what was that, a pineapple? His fingers snaked up it, towards the top -

"Hey! No! Bad!" She ran towards him. "Don't _do_ that!" He looked at her, then continued to tug at the pineapple. "Goddamnit, I said _no!"_ She reached, unthinking, grabbed his hair, and _yanked_.

This was a stupid choice, she realized, seconds later, as she was shoved into another tree trunk by a very angry Goblin King. The air was suddenly electric, almost humid, and she smelled a spark, like inhaling pepper. Magic. She was inhaling power and magic and _anger,_ and it was all coming from him. Yes, it had been a very stupid choice to pull his hair, but it was only a choice she'd made because he'd given her no other options. Still, given the chance, she didn't know if she'd repeat it, to be honest. Maybe stabbing him would've been a better idea, perhaps. He would've bled, but at least he'd be hurt. Possibly hurt enough to, say, let her escape. Yes, all in all, stabbing did seem a more viable option for the future. If there was a future.

His lip curled up, his eyes narrowed into slits. " _Ow._ " He growled.

She tried to make her defense sound logical. "Yes, ow, and I am sorry about that, truly, but also you really weren't listening and I just need you to -"

" _I bow to know no one."_

Sarah was tired. She was currently a bit scared. She couldn't move, and she was also having trouble breathing from being slammed into a tree.

"And yet, I seem to remember a certain someone having no problem offering to be my _slave._ " She wheezed, one last defensive puff. He blinked, confusion flashing on his face for a brief second, his fingers wavering in their purchase of her shoulders. That wasn't what she'd wanted to say, but her mouth seemed to have no problem running itself. Neither did her body apparently, as she moved without thinking, ducking under his arm. She wheeled around, her brain trying to catch up as he turned, regarding her.

 _(Something's wrong with him. Pulling his hair is bad, but this… He's like, an aggressive zombie. I think. I'm pretty sure. I mean, I don't him_ THAT _well, but… His eyes look weird - well, weirder - they're too shiny. It's the trees, this forest, something. It's some kind of spell or whatever, it's making him… He's stopping me from stopping him. Blocking me. Why? Blocking me from what? What is he protecting?)_

She waited for him to move, but he didn't, just kept staring at her.

"Ok." She gulped. "I'm - sorry I yelled at you and - pulled your hair - I was trying to - it was like with - with me when I wrote with the blood, right? I just didn't want -" _(What was that weird-ass apology he gave earlier? What was it?)_ "I - didn't want - something to go wrong." _(Close enough.)_

He didn't move. _(Is he going to charge me? Attack? Did I snap him out of it or am I about to be toast?)_ He just stared, unblinking, until he suddenly spoke:

"Something to go wrong with the Labyrinth."

"I didn't want something to go wrong with _you, asshole!_ " She snapped out the words. _(Shit. That wasn't what he'd said. He'd said he didn't want something to go wrong, and then he said he didn't mean the Labyrinth.)_ How come when he said it it was all mysterious and wordplay but when she tried she just blurted it out and yelled at him? _(Smooth, Williams. Also, screaming during negotiations. Nice.)_ Living with Toby really should've prepared her more for how to handle this kind of scenario.

 _(Except that Toby's my brother and doesn't use magic and super strength and look like -)_

He stared at her for one second more - and then sighed, looking back at the fruit.

 _(Jesus. That worked. You'd think a guy who lives in glitter would have a lower resistance to jewels. At least he's not attacking me.)_

She caught her breath for a second, trying to watch both him and the orchard. The trees were still normal, it was just the fruit. Ok. What was the question here? What was happening? The opening was gone. There was no exit that she could see - she couldn't explore too much, she didn't trust that glint in his eyes. So… The fruit was a distraction? _(To what?)_ From what? What forest had fruit? Magical jewel fruit? Was there anything else special about the trees?

"Ok, have - yo! Focus!" She waved her hand again. _(I really don't want to snap my fingers at him judging on how he responded last time, but he's not giving me a lot of options… It this were Toby, I'd just drag him away.)_ He focused back to her, scowling again. _(Just like a 5 year old when you tell them they can't have the toy they want.)_ "Hey, ok, I need you to think, Mr. King."

"I'm perfectly capable of -"

"Just - just listen. Have you ever seen anything like this before? A forest made of jewels? Anything?" _(Please?)_

His glance softened as he looked back up at the tree. "No. But I shall be installing one soon, once I get…" His sentence was lost.

 _Goddamnit._ She tried again. "Ok, so - once we get your magic back, right? Then we can get you the whole forest. But right now, we need to work on -"

He was walking away. _Son of a bitch._ She jogged after him. _(Think, Williams, think.)_ She definitely didn't have long before he just snatched something off a branch, no matter what she tried.

 _(Why is this spell affecting only him? Why aren't I entranced by these too? Is this specifically a trap for… Him? Why? What… What shouldn't he notice? The path is already gone, and he doesn't care… Is he supposed to stay here and waste the time? That seems too simple… Plus, the Labyrinth could have just captured us in a pit if that was the goal, or like… I dunno, used a sleeping spell or some shit. No, this is a trap or something, I can feel it. But to what?)_

Ok. Magical forests. Magical forest. Jewels. Gold. Silver. _Ummm…_ Her mind blanked. She massaged her temple, pulse beating in her ears.

"Magic jewel forest magic jewel forest what… Where…" _(Ok, dwarves.)_ This seemed like something they'd do; put jewels in a cave and fashion them into a forest. But these trees were real. They were wooden, bark-coated trees, right until the fruit. And they were in a forest, not a cave… Were caves relevant? Should she be looking for a cave? Was it hiding here somewhere? The ground was pretty flat, and she didn't have time to look. _(Move on. What other stories had jewels in forest? Leprechauns? No, that was gold. Gold! There was gold here - golden apples! But -)_

He stopped at a tree filled with sapphires, the colors catching in his hair. She nearly ran into him. He circled the tree, eyes narrowed as he regarded them. Sarah's stomach began to pool with dread.

 _(He's going to pick his favorite fruit, isn't he? He's looking for the prettiest toy, just like Toby. Toby always goes for whatever's the biggest and reddest and most expensive. I know it. I don't have much time before I have to whack him or something. Come on, brain. I know this, right? Golden apples. Was that a clue?)_

 _(Golden apples were in quite a few stories, but… Mostly Greek legends. The fairest of the goddesses received the apple, Snow White, also the fairest, got an apple - that wasn't gold, forget it - there was a greek princess who was chased them, but -)_

But this wasn't - wait. There was so much more than just gold here, there were topazes and opals and rubies. And there weren't just apples, there were all kinds of fruit. Bananas. Plums. Some kind of kiwi - looking thing. So - _(so it's really just the whole forest. A magical jewel forest. Diamonds and garnets and every jewel imaginable. Dragons have treasure troves… But forests… A forest of jewels…)_

"Twelve dancing princesses?" She whispered, looking around. Nothing happened. But that… That didn't seem to fit either. In the story, the prince picked from the trees for proof, not to gain jewels or riches. He was trying to save the princesses.

 _(And I think that was mostly metal trees. That's not it. Besides, these trees are_ begging _us to pick them. Right? That's gotta be right. Is there a forest where that was thing? Where? Where have I heard this before? A forest that wants you to pick the fruit?)_

 _(Eden?)_

 _(Well… Kind of. Same concept. But there's no snake, and we can't eat these. Try again.)_

Her brain hurt. _(There's too many ideas. Take a breath. Focus.)_ Maybe it wasn't about the jewels. Or the trees, or the - although.

Although it wasn't the jewels bothered her, it was the fruit. It was every kind, every variety. _Why?_ Bananas didn't grown on this type of tree, pineapples didn't grow next to plums. It was another distraction, like if you didn't like diamond pears maybe you'd like a diamond kumquat. And the range of jewels, too, if you didn't want diamonds there were topazes, rubies, opals -

 _(So if it's a distraction, what is it distracting from? The entrance is already gone, so then -)_

"The exit's here, too." She whispered. _(It's hiding. Hiding in plain sight. How do you beat this, Sarah?)_

 _Riches and jewels… What more could you want…_

 _(No, what more could I_ need? _)_

 _(Which story has a garden of every fruit, of every jewel, every beautiful and rich thing you could want to see, hiding the plain truth in plain sight - so what are you really looking for?)_

Aladdin.

 _YES._

She looked around. That was it. That had to be it. There must be something like that. She tried to remember. _Aladdin snuck into the cave to get the lamp - but there were riches everywhere, including an orchard and jewels - to distract him from the lamp, which was plain. But the lamp… The lamp had more power than anything in the cave, more riches than anything in the garden, and it was hidden in plain sight, something extraordinary disguised as ordinary, you had to look for it, you had to search… So…_

 _(Look for what doesn't belong, Williams.)_

She spun. Trees. Jewels. Sparkling light. _Something -_

 _Something that stands out - in beauty - something that looks ordinary, or different, or…_

Sarah whirled around. The entrance had been there, behind them, and they'd walked around the outside, going from tree to tree -

Well, _he'd_ walked from tree to tree, circling, moving from one to the next, searching around. She hadn't been able to leave him.

 _(So what's in the center of this thing? This orchard? I never got closer…)_

She glanced at him, but his hands were by his side.

 _(He's too still. He's waiting for me to leave.)_

But she needed to see.

Sarah peered around the trunk, trying to look deeper into the depths of the orchard from her spot. Branches and shining fruit greeted her eyes. She sighed, frustrated, looking back at him.

Motionless.

 _(I think if I can just go around the trunk a little bit more -)_

She edged around, stretching herself and craning her neck. Still her view was blocked. She looked back at him. "Hey, can you move? Can we go in a little further?"

He stared upward, ignoring her.

 _(If he can even hear me at this point. Shit. He looks like he's about to beam up or something.)_ "Ok, well… I think I see some really cool… Fruit… Over there, so…"

Nothing. Sarah took a step forward. He didn't move. _(Ok. Please give me enough time to do this. Just a little longer.)_

She ran forward, twitching her head around as fast as she could, looking, searching for anything that stood out, that didn't belong. Jewels and gems greeted her eyes, gleaming and flashing as she moved forward.

 _(At the end of the cave was the lamp, at the end of the cave -)_

 _(Where does this orchard even end? And this is a forest, so where's -)_

She stopped, about 50 feet away, already out of breath, and scared to go any farther from him. Also, she was embarrassingly winded, her already anxious breathing now joining her wheezing lungs. She paused for a brief second, placing her hands on her knees.

 _(This is impossible. How can I do this? I can't move without him, or he'll pick the fruit, and I can't get him to move. Goddamnit.)_ She raised her head, squinting into forward into the depths of the twinkling branches. The light was hurting her eyes as well, making her vision swim as the fruit flashed. Blur, flash, blur, flash, orange, blur, flash, orange -

orange.

She squinted, crouching down and shading her eyes.

 _(What is that?)_

It was a tree, with some kind of fruit, something sort of… Orange. But the color was wrong. It wasn't sparkling. It wasn't catching the sun the right way. It was bright, but…

 _(There. Whatever that is, that's it. It has to be. Please, let that be it.)_

Sarah drew in a deep breath, ready to get up and move forward, then paused.

 _(Turn around.)_

But she didn't want to. She knew what she would see.

She was on her knees, she was on her feet, she was running back, running to him -

His hand was outstretched, reaching up, reaching out - her stomach sank as she lurched forward, slowly, so slowly - he was touching the fruit, seeing which one was the best to pick -

 _(I'm not fast enough - I'm not fast enough and I'm out of shape - I have no shape, my body has nothing -) -_ her vision was swimming in and out of focus -

 _He was reaching and reaching -_

" _NO!"_ She yelled. She didn't have time to think, didn't have time to yell at him, didn't have time to try and find a fistful of hair. His hand was on a fruit, it was reaching the branch, the stem, his fingers were pinching it -

She jumped, grabbing his arm, and bit.

Mostly she tasted cloth, but she connected with something under it. They both went down, and they rolled, they were rolling, they were still -

No, they weren't rolling. The _ground_ was.

Sarah sat up, only to be thrown sideways as the earth trembled, a spasm ripping through it. She sat up again, several feet away from her previous position and looked around. There he was, sitting up and clutching -

The fruit. Her heart sank. She'd been too late.

"What -" He began, and then everything began to shake.

" _Fuck!"_ Sarah yelled. The branches quaked in the air, the trees bending under the weight, fruit tinkling like glass. She stood, trying to get to him, and the ground rolled again, throwing her completely off her feet. She saw him move, crawling towards her, and he managed to grab her arm -

"What's -" He said again.

And then the ground cracked around them.

Sarah screamed as the earth sank away, a sheer cliff appearing directly to her right, a few inches from her hand as the earth fell away into darkness. A clinking tree toppled into the chasm, swallowed. She was being hauled to her feet, grabbed, his arm wrapping around her as the ground on the left cracked open and split, an instant ravine.

" _We have to get to the center!"_ She yelled as he gripped her. " _There!"_

She pointed towards it as a tear in the ground appeared, as if directed by her finger, weaving and winding to -

To where the orange thing was - or had been, if it was still there, if it wasn't gone, wasn't swallowed -

He didn't ask or argue, just swung her up into his arms and _ran._ He moved fast, faster than Sarah could see. There was just air, blurred trees and a horrible groaning, shattering sound as things fell away around them. She couldn't see the path he ran but she could feel it as he leapt, paused, almost slipped, and he might have yelled but she couldn't hear over her own heartbeat, which was pounding and screaming - _tick tock tick tock go go go go -_

 _Orange._ There. _There!_ She hit him in the chest, words failing her mouth beyond sort of a yelp, and he slammed to a stop. She fell out of his arms and gazed at a -

It was a tree.

It was the smallest tree, hidden in between two larger ones, as if they were trying to outgrow it. It was scraggly and dark, barely poking out. It looked more like a branch. It was hardly there.

But it did have one thing - one orange-colored, non-sparkly, fruit thing.

A small peach shone in the sunlight.

A peach. A _goddamn peach. That's. Cheating._

 _(And who said fairy tales play fair?)_

She took a step - then there was a noise, some kind of growl, and the earth began to sink under her foot. He shouted something but she shoved him away and moved, moved towards it, leaping, it was like trying to run up an descending escalator, but there was the tree and there was the peach -

She sprinted full-on for it, her hands were out, she was reaching -

The earth churned as she closed her fingers around it and she snatched it but she fell as the ground rolled and then dropped and she was facing the grass, darkness, the sky, she was rolling and nothing was up or down, it was just a dark blur and she couldn't really see, she just fell, fell into solid dirt, earth, gritty, grimy-

dirt -


	9. Going in Circle

A/N: Hey y'all. Welcome as always and thank you to the new followers and favorites! And a happy Valentines day to all - if you are single I hope you're treating yourself. Love must be in the air cause I can feel it and by love I mean sickness and by in the air I mean I'm sick. So, with my foggy brain, here is a new chapter. It is very long - most of them aren't this long but I couldn't figure out where to cut this one so here we are. Enjoy I hope. Also, a note on the last chapter, just to clarify: I made Jareth an elf. YES OK I KNOW ALRIGHT SOME AGREE THAT HE'S FEY IT'S NOT THE SAME YADDAYADAYADA. Look. I just can't think of him as a fairy, especially not when you think of the fairies in the movie. And when I grew up, I was taught that 'a' fey was a fairy, but fey _creatures_ could be a lot of different things. And since he's gorgeous and proud and has an amazing style and plus in the Labyrinth documentary Bowie talks about him inheriting the Labyrinth a bit unwillingly I decided to make him an elf who kind of… Got the Labyrinth. Again, he can be whatever you want him to be to you. But for the purpose of this story, he's an elf. Have a happy Vday! Sarah and Jareth certainly aren't :D

 **Going in Circle**

Sarah's vision focused, but it didn't need to. She could smell it. Yes, this was definitely dirt, musty and dark, not grass, not bright sparkly jewels, just dirt, quite damp and her face was in it. She was on the ground, but -

 _(Facefirst in the ground for the second time today, and still not dead. Must be doing something right.)_

 _…_ Which was not usually the associated first thought one had with dirt up their nose, but it was turning out to be that kind of day, she realized groggily before her eyes rolled back.

She felt herself being flipped over, and then something hit her chest, over her heart. Quite hard.

 _(I didn't even manage to faint though…)_

She coughed, groaning. There was a pause and then her chest was slammed again.

"Asuawag?" Sarah managed, though the coughs. She opened her eyes. Wait. They were already open. Then _(…Why is it so dark?)_ she blinked, trying to adjust to the lighting, and spat. She could taste the dirt, leftover grass from eating the ground, and god knew what else.

Someone grabbed her face, tilting it back. A frowning Goblin King was pulling at her eyes, trying to look at them.

"Fuck!" She rolled away, trying to get into a crouching position, suddenly remembering.

 _(Magical forest, angry Goblin King, exploding ground, yes, it's all coming back now.)_

The earth had tried to eat her, and he'd been turned crazy by jewels. What was he going to do now that she'd taken away his entire forest? Her legs screamed in pain as she moved, aching from the run and the fall.

 _(Jesus_ christ _I'm sore! Who knew eating shit and falling into the center of the earth could hurt this bad!?_ Oh, and getting slammed into a tree by him. _Please be normal again. I don't think I can move very fast at the moment if you plan on attacking me.)_ Sarah glared, waiting.

He moved towards her. She tried to back away more, but the soreness shot through her legs and she fell back with a cry.

"Oh, stop it." He sounded cross as he pushed her fully into the dirt. "I'm seeing if you're hurt." He started poking at her eyes, the other hand trying to hit her in the heart again.

"Ow! Yes! _You're_ hurting me! What are you doing! Get off!"

"Nonsense, this is what humans do after accidents. I've seen it on your Television."

 _(What? What was he babbling about? Television? What would he have seen? Some kind of medical - is he checking for a concussion? CPR? God knew.)_ "What!? What are you - no! You're doing it wrong! Get off me!" She swatted him away, propping herself upright.

"You appear to be quite fine then." He sat back, satisfied.

"What -" She looked at him carefully. He didn't seem to be dreamy or aggressive, so… Sarah waited. He watched her, saying nothing. _(O… K.)_ She was probably safe. Probably. "What… Happened to you?"

"Perhaps you could tell me." He cocked his head. "I seem to have been bitten by some kind of uncivilized savage. Or a very stupid and weak animal." He held up his arm, showing her bite marks.

She sighed. "That was me."

"I know."

"Then what did you just call -"

"My hair," He continued, "Also seems to have been mauled by the same type of creature."

She glared at him. " _You_ weren't listening. _You_ were - something happened. To you."

He sniffed, staring her down. Waiting.

Sarah sighed. "But, _nonetheless,_ your majesty, _I'm sorry_ if I hurt you." _(Not really. You were being a little bitch. But I didn't want to_ have _to bite you.)_

He inspected his arm again. "Accepted."

She watched him, still untrusting. "So, do you remember ignoring me? Acting weird? Attacking _me?"_

"I was provoked." He rubbed the arm.

"Provoked into slamming me into a tree? What part of me is that threatening!? I didn't even break skin when I bit you!" _(Probably should've.)_

"It was a shove. You were lighter than I anticipated."

She threw her head back, breathing in slowly through her nose. _(Definitely should've.)_

 _(Give it up, Sarah. You're not going to get an apology.)_

"However… Thank you. For… Helping. And I am also sorry if… I hurt you." She held her breath as he continued. "I - confess not to remembering it as clearly."

 _(And that, Sarah, is as close as you're going to get from him. At least he said he was sorry directly this time.)_ She exhaled, still not looking at him. "Ok, fine. Accepted. I guess." She paused, and the silence stretched. _(It's not his fault, not completely. Come on Williams. Be the grownup here.)_

 _(Do I have to be the grownup that keeps getting hurt!?)_

 _(He did save you, you know. At the end.)_

 _(YEAH WHEN HE LAUNCHED THE TRAP BECAUSE HE PICKED THE FRUIT EVEN AFTER I TOLD HIM NOT -)_

 _(He saved you. And you_ weren't _under a spell. Easy to accuse when you're not in the same position.)_

That was true. She grudgingly forced in another deep breath. "So… You don't remember… Any of it? Such as setting off the entire orchard to attack us?"

He frowned. "It's… Hazy."

Sarah looked at him levelly. "The forest was a trap, specifically a trap for _you,_ I think, and _you_ fell for it. Do you know the story of Aladdin?"

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes.

 _(How do I explain this one. Ok. Start at the beginning I guess.)_ "Aladdin is a boy - a thief -" _(He should get that part at least-)_ "- who goes into a cave to find a magical lamp."

"What -"

She cut him off. "It's - it's just a story. Let me finish. In the cave is an orchard with every kind of fruit and jewels, but the lamp looks plain. He has to ignore the rich, pretty orchard to get the lamp. So…. We were in… An orchard just like - well, kind of like - that, and it, like, wanted you to pick the fruit, which, by the way, I told you _not_ to do. But you were like… A zombie, and didn't listen to me -"

"I -" He started to protest.

She held up her hand. "So, basically, _I_ had to go and find the lamp, meaning… I had to find the most ordinary thing in an orchard filled with fruit jewels, so I found the only normal, non-bedazzled fruit. But _someone_ couldn't control themselves, and -"

"How was _I_ to know-" He began again.

"I TOLD YOU, THAT'S WHY! I yelled in your face not to do it! I even said please! But no, the entire thing collapsed and we're lucky to even - where are we?" Her anger was cut short by the realization.

He huffed. "It was a very _compelling_ enchantment, and my lacking magic makes my defenses… Weak. Had _you_ been under it, you would have been powerless. Though undoubtably easier to _subdue_ , had I been conscious."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? Then why didn't I fall for the spell? I thought the jewels were pretty, but I didn't think they were worth _drooling_ over."

"Perhaps your challenge is yet to come."

 _(Oh. Well that's not…)_ She frowned. Arguing over hypotheticals was cheating.

His hand waved vaguely. "Regardless, after you fell, the enchantment dispelled. And here we are."

Sarah smirked tightly in the musty gloom. They were still in a forest but - Sarah knew this forest. _This_ was a Fairy Tale forest. A murky darkness that spread over spindly grey trees, a slight mist that swirled around the ground. Any cloudy sunlight was obscured into dim patches as it filtered through twisted branches. She squinted in the darkness, and spotted the path, littered with dead leaves and a hazy mist.

 _(There we go. This is more like it. At least if this one collapsed I'd be expecting it. Let's see, creepy trees, overcast lighting… Did we get all the cliches? Might as well just call this one Dark-Sleepy-Witch's-Forbidden-Hollow-Forest or some shit.)_

She could feel herself tensing up, waiting for something to jump out and scare them, or attack, her hands balled up and clenching -

clenching the peach.

 _(This fucking thing_. _)_ She glared at her hand. _(And I bet I'm supposed to eat you? Not today, Satan. The enchantment ended, that's enough out of you.)_

She wanted to hurl it into the darkness, but she didn't. It had saved them from the orchard, it might come in handy somehow. Or maybe she'd be hungry later. _(Not hungry enough to eat this.)_ Her bag had miraculously stayed on despite the fall, so she unzipped it. _(And stay there,)_ She thought, shoving it into the depths of the bag.

"What is that?"

"The orchard -" She was too tired to explain this. "The only way to get out of the orchard was by picking that."

"Picking… What?"

She dug it out again so he could see, and he peered closer, eyebrow raising. "A peach."

"Yeah. Whatever." She stuffed it back.

"I see. And what will you do with the peach?"  
"I - dunno. Do I need to do something with it?" She stole a glance at his face. His eyes held hers.

"You won it. It's yours to decide what to do with."

"Ok… Well, I'll just hang on to it, then, I guess." She couldn't look away, his eyes glinting in the dark.

"Are you sure you don't want… A little taste?" The corner of his mouth hitched up.

 _(That stupid smirk. I guess he's back to normal.)_ She tried to comprehend what he was saying. "What?" _(A taste of the peach… Like a bite? A bite of a peach… Like the one he gave me - OH MY GOD he remembers. He's fucking talking about that dream shit he sent me - when I -)_ "NO!" She felt red creep into her face. At least this forest was dark.

His smirk stretched into a grin. "Are you sure? I seem to remember someone having a certain… Weakness for peaches."

"THAT WAS YOU." No forest was dark enough to hide her embarrassment. "YOU made me - that was -"

"The peach was completely your own free will." The grin disappeared, replaced by a condescending _'I told you so'_ face. "No one made you eat it. Not even Hoggle. He just _gave_ it to you."

"We are _so_ done talking about this." She stood, and remembered rather suddenly and painfully that she'd just survived falling through collapsing earth. "Argh _ahahrag._ " She tried to play her whimper into some semblance of a laugh, but he was by her side instantly.

"What's wrong? Did I hit your chest enough?"

She shot him a look. "That's not - that's - yes, you absolutely did. Never do that again, by the way. It's making me reconsider our healing deal. I'm just a little - a little sore. I'll walk it off, it's fine - we should keep move -"

The world shifted sideways and she was suddenly being scooped up in his arms.

"What are you doing!?" She screeched.

"I recall that most humans, after getting hit in the chest, are required to lay still. And since we don't have a bed, this will suffice."

She tried to push herself out of his arms. "The television is a lie! I can walk! I _need_ to walk!"

He sighed, firmly readjusting his hold, ignoring her "put-me-down!"s.

 _(I can deal with a lot, but this is - I will_ NOT _be carried by him.) "Let -_ go! It'll - it'll be good for me to move!"

"No."

"Hey dude, I know you're the _expert_ on humans and their health and TV, but if I fall asleep like this, _that's_ when it gets dangerous! People who have - concussions shouldn't fall asleep! It messes with your brain!"

He watched her.

"I'm - I'm telling you the truth." Mostly. She didn't know if she _actually_ had a concussion, but if she did, then it wasn't technically a lie, and her head hurt enough that it might be feasible. "Please." She tried to look into his eyes, but staring into them and being carried at the same time wasn't going to help her if she ever wanted to stop blushing. _(Get it together._ _What is wrong with you. Besides recently sprinting through a magical earthquake.)_

He set her down slowly, still watching, holding onto her arm. She looked down at their limbs to avoid his accusatory gaze, nodding. "Ok, a compromise. We'll walk like this. Sure. I'll be fine as long as I can lean on you a little bit." She could still feel his eyes on her.

He didn't move. "You said… If you were to fall asleep it would - hurt you?"

"It - messes with your memory - yes, basically."

He paused, his voice sinking down to a lilting murmur. "So… You think you'd fall asleep in my arms?"

Sarah's face bypassed red and moved into something that was closer to the purple family. "That's - _not_ what - I -"

 _(There was that breathless chuckle, again. This fucker.)_

She stuttered on her words. "I - I - just got hurt - my words aren't working - I -" Why did the ground only try to swallow her when she _didn't_ need it to? "Next time I'm leaving you in the jewels." She muttered furiously.

His voice was sticky sweet. "Don't exert yourself, _princess_ , or I'll carry you again. With excuses or without."

Sarah didn't even try to form a sentence. There was no point. There was only embarrassment. They began to walk and she looked at the forest, the ground, anywhere but him. The track here was hard to see given the light and the mist, but the real trouble she was having was the actual forest floor itself. It was a sticky kind of mud, but loose enough that her feet sank into it slightly, and she was moving slower now after the fall. He made frustrated huffs and short sighs as she struggled to unstick herself, as if to say ' _I could be carrying you, you stubborn weak human',_ but she ignored him. He'd picked the fruit and set off the orchard, he could deal with her now slower pace.

The path was different here; whereas the orchard's trail had been winding and long, this snaked around and branched out as they continued down it, shooting off into narrow trails that twisted into the darkness beyond where Sarah's eyes could see. He kept them straight, then right, then straight, then a dead end. They doubled back, heading straight again, right, left, straight, left -

Sarah lost track. It all looked the same, and she was having trouble as it was. The trees were pale, the ground was grey, it was all bleak and monotone. _This_ was a forest where there _was_ a dark magic, a threat beyond the branches, and she was tense waiting for it. Gone were the luscious, lying colors and the forced cheerful atmosphere. There was still mushrooms, though larger and now a sort of grey, peppering the path like rocks. The air was different here, too. The farther in they headed the more humid it became, despite the mist that curled from the ground. It was a thick, musty air that smelled of rich dirt and decomposing earth.

 _(I fucking hate this silence, too.)_ She realized. There'd been silence is the beginning passage, in the books and in the orchard, but this was _oppressive,_ crushing against her ears. All she could hear was her ragged breath in the heat, her slow heartbeat, and she shivered despite the warmth. She decided her face had resumed a normal shade of malnourishment and spoke, trying to cut the dominating quiet. "Do you think we'll get back to the real Labyrinth soon?" Her voice sounded tinny.

"This is the Labyrinth."

"Well - but - when I went through it, I got stuck in bogs and forests, and then I got back to the path, so -"

"That was still the Labyrinth." His tone slid into patronizing.

"But -"

"Did you get lost in the forest? Did you get lost in the bog?"

 _(Well yeah cause you forced me to go there -)_ "Yes, but - I thought the - the main Labyrinth was stone. Like a stone road."

"It doesn't work like that. It is… Ever-changing. That is the only thing that is constant of the Labyrinth."

"How philosophical of… It." She muttered. "So… As long as I got lost, it was still the Labyrinth, then?"

"Correct."

"What even _is_ the Labyrinth? And why are there goblins in it? What do they have to do with anything?" Sarah frowned at her feet in the dark, remembering a theory she'd had. "Is it because of caves?"

They reached a series of thinly spaced trees in a fork. He pulled her towards the middle, helping her to squeeze through.

"Like -" She huffed, continuing the thought. "Like - goblins used to live in caves, right? That's the traditional home, isn't it? A series of caverns and caves and tunnels and passages, all underground? So… Did that somehow turn into the Labyrinth?"

She watched him from the corner of her eye as he looked, considering. "Did you _read_ that in one of your… Tales."

"Yes." _(Actually I read it in a_ lot _of tales. I compared notes.)_

"Well… Yes. Perhaps the Labyrinth was once caves long ago, when the land was more… Chaotic. But the Labyrinth has always been… A Labyrinth. It has simply changed appearance. Cave, tunnels, stone, trees." He gestured around vaguely. "It became what it needed to. And the goblins… They have always lived in it. It is their - home. The Labyrinth for them has always been - a home."

 _(The lost living in the land of the lost are finally found.)_ Sarah thought. She'd read the quote in an analysis of Peter Pan, and it had stuck. "And yours." She added.

He tilted his head. "It is."

"So then… How does an elf become King of the Goblins and ruler of the Labyrinth?" _(Was he lost, once? A home for the homeless king?)_

He shrugged. "I simply… Got it."

"What?"

He looked at her sideways. "Well, goblins aren't particularly smart. I convinced them I would be a great leader."

"That's it?" She squinted, peering at him.

"I may have used a bit of magic. Nothing fancy."

 _(Riiight. Says the guy who changed his outfit- what, 7, 8 times when I last met him?)_ Sarah snorted on her laughter. "Sure you didn't."

He smirked. "They like flashy things."

"Reminds me of someone I know."

"I -"

"Not," She added hastily. "That there's anything wrong with that."

Silence again.

 _(Damnit, Sarah - try not to kill the conversation, maybe? He doesn't quite - he doesn't get human humor. Or teasing? What were you even doing?)_

 _(I just… Wanted to know more about it. Him.)_

 _(Well, not about_ him _, specifically. I want to know more about this_ place. _What does he mean, he_ got _it? Did he win the Labyrinth somehow? Did he beat the Labyrinth? I have even more questions now! I need to know!)_

But the silence was there to stay and he wasn't trying to break it. Sarah sighed inwardly as they took a winding fork to the right.

 _(Whatever. I should stop talking anyways. He needs to concentrate on getting us out of here. I'm probably annoying him. And he annoys_ me _with his stupid smirks and snide remarks about falling asleep in his arms and whatever! So… So we don't need to fill the silence!)_

But she felt it stretching. She was alone, her and the Goblin King, arm in arm, walking in a dark forest, and she felt…

 _(Awkward. I don't feel awkward, I am awkward. I don't know what to - he's the one who's - I'm just here to -_

 _…_ _What am I here to do?)_

They'd never discussed a full plan, actually. Or how any of this was her fault. Sarah chewed her lip, wondering which question would make him less mad, her shoes squelching in the muck. The floor was now getting swampy, and her feet were sinking in if she didn't keep a fast pace, which was hard given her uneven footing and still-stiff legs. The mushrooms were plentiful in the mud, thriving in it probably, she guessed.

 _(Fungus in a damp, humid, muddy, moldy environment? Of course they're everywhere here_. _)_

But the fungi weren't just dotting the path now, they were outlining it, bigger and closer together. They looked like small greasy rocks. She thought of Alice in Wonderland, and decided this was about as far away as you could get from that. These mushrooms were a sickly grey, and - Sarah focused back on walking.

 _(I don't want to think about this. I don't want to think about how slimy they look, or why the air is like this, or how much deeper into this mud I'm going to sink. Just focus on the path, and getting out of this section.)_

The trail twisted into a dead end and they were forced back. The deeper and now quite tacky mud was catching her shoes, making her lose her balance as she lurched forward unevenly, slipping and sticking. _He_ didn't lose his balance of course, just kept sort of glaring over her head when she stuck.

 _(It'd be easier if I was walking behind you.)_ But he didn't let go and she didn't want to argue with him again. _(Mostly because his response will be, 'it'd be easier if I were carrying you', I'm pretty sure.)_

She looked up at him to see if he - now he wasn't watching her. No, he was - scanning. That was the only word she could think of. He was turning his head, listening to something as they walked.

 _(What is he hearing? Do elves have magical super hearing? Can he hear something I can't? Is… Is something after us? No, he'd tell me, right? Right…?)_

She held her breath, but couldn't hear anything. He said nothing, just continued pushing forward.

They walked in a curve for a while, until they ended up back in a circle. The trees had continued to get taller and thinner the deeper they walked, becoming closer knit, the background blocked by the scattering of the grey, lifeless trunks. They were less like trees now, they were too… Smooth, too monochrome, any branches that were there were now so far above that Sarah couldn't see them no matter how far back she craned her neck. She still tried though, bending backwards, and lost her balance, slipping again.

"Sorry." She tried adjusting her grip on his arm to hold tighter.

His scowl deepened and he finally spoke. "This path is… Difficult. For you."

 _(That was a weird way to say it.)_ "Uh… Yeah. But, I'm fine." _(Sort of.)_

Actually, she needed a rest. She wasn't limping or anything, but she was tired. _(No. Keep going. He's not here to carry the weak human, and I'm not here to ask, especially after I forced him to put me down. And now he's pissed at you. Stop looking at the trees.)_

Sarah tried to take a deep breath, but not too deep. Every fact she'd learned about mushrooms was surfacing in her mind at this exact moment in time. Facts like, you could breathe in spores, for example. Mushrooms liked damp places, and she was sweating profusely. Certain funguses could take over weak-minded creatures, and she was pretty tired and hungry and weak herself. Invasion of the Body Snatchers wasn't that far off when it came to science -

 _(Please, brain? Not the time. Or the place.)_

She pushed forward, but felt herself dragging. The humidity of the air was starting to catch up with her, the thickness engulfing her like hot fumes of pungent mold.

 _(I feel like I'm trying to snort water._ _I have to say something.)_ "Hey - actually, do you think - we could maybe - I mean, I know you're like a superhuman being who doesn't really get tired, but - can we rest a bit? Please?"

He stopped suddenly and she jerked to a halt, disentangling her arms from his to crouch on the ground, her knees groaning in protest as she sank down. The air was worse, thicker in smell and Sarah could feel the heat rising from the earth.

Ew. Also, _weird._

She could also see the mushrooms closer here, glistening dully against the murk of the forest. They'd increased in growth even more, some were the size of boulders, their stems lost under the width of the caps. They were taller, too, if she squinted into the distance between trees she could see some that looked at least her height.

 _(They're all bigger - even the smaller ones are apple-sized now.)_

She realized suddenly that the mushrooms weren't dotting the path, they were _making_ the path, along with the trees.

 _(Creepy.)_

She held her breath, trying to get rid of the smell, even if for a brief moment, but it was impossible. She let it out in a huff, the silence swallowing her exhale.

There was a tiny creak.

No, that wasn't quite right, it wasn't a creak, it was more of a - a stretch. Was that right? Yes, it sounded like a stretch, a groan, something like that. It was faint, so faint she almost thought she didn't hear it, but no, there it was, and it didn't stop. She looked around, but nothing moved.

 _(What was that?)_ She turned, searching. _(I know that noise. What is… It's - it sounds like a glove. A latex glove, stretching over a hand. Or something close to that - a stretch, a stretch of like - rubber. Or - leather. Creaking leather. What would make that sound? What could make that sound_ here _?)_

She eyed the trees, the mushrooms, but nothing was moving. The noise continued, the tiny _skritttchhhh_ that stretched out and out.

She craned her neck around, trying to see beyond the trees, under the mushroom caps, back at the ground and -

A small line of tiny mushrooms dotted around her feet. She stared, fascinated. They were growing, piping up, first they were pinhead-sized, then they were eggs, then they were tennis balls -

"Whoa… What -" She reached out, pointing, glancing up to see if he'd noticed. He had, and he didn't look happy. She tried to inhale deeper to speed the resting process up and started coughing.

"We need to keep moving."

"Yeah, but did you see - oh! " He hauled her to feet suddenly, yanking her along. "Geez! Ow!" _(That was like 30 seconds! That's not a rest! I need -)_ She looked at him. The shadows cut into his face, throwing gaunt shapes into his sharp angles. He looked grimm. "Are - are you ok?"

"I am perfectly well."

 _(Then why does he look like that?)_ "Did you see the -"

"Quiet." He snapped.

 _(Whoa. Wow. Go and suck an orb with that attitude, asshole!)_ But she shut up. _(Ok, fine. Be angry. I don't know how I'm supposed to hurry up when I can't even get a break when I need one. The mushrooms are growing, by the way. If you care, your highness. But no, I'll be quiet.)_

 _(He probably needs to concentrate, Sarah.)_

 _(Well, he doesn't need to yell at me to do it, does he? Besides- )_

They skidded to a stop, path dividing into three sets, the trees becoming even more close together here, almost interwoven, crowded next to each other like bamboo. He went left, now pulling her along faster as the path narrowed. Her breathing was becoming ragged, though she tried to hide it. _(Maybe I said something wrong? Is that why he's mad?)_ She scanned over the little conversation they'd had, but nothing popped out at her as an insult besides asking him to stop. _(I've asked him that before, and he wasn't happy, but -)_

Dead end.

The mushrooms thickly clumped together at the end to form a block in the path, creating a wall, small ones at the bottom the size of grapefruits curving up towards the top where the large ones stood like umbrellas. He turned swiftly, starting back down the path. The noise was still there, that creaking, stretching sound, and was it her imagination or _was it getting louder?_ She wanted to ask him, but she was sweating in the dampness of the air, fighting to keep her balance and momentum. One minute her leg stuck in the mud, the next it slid out from under her.

 _(Shit!)_

She slipped, pitching forward, her leg kicking back behind her into the mushrooms. She clung to his arm as an anchor, using him to pull herself up.

"Sorry - I can't seem to get my balance." She muttered, not even bothering to look into his undoubtably impatient face. She was blushing again, but because she felt - stupid. Weak. Human. She couldn't walk right, she couldn't even catch her own breath. She was slowing him down, she could feel it. The air was worse, it was like trying to breath through a sponge in the dampness and heat. She should just let him carry her, she was being stupid -

His eyes went to something beyond her. Sarah turned around, looking, but saw only trees, trees and mushrooms, the wall, and - "What are you -" He spun her back around, pulling her down the path. "Ow!"

He ignored her. They reached the split. His eyes darted around, finally choosing the right trail, striding down it.

She couldn't keep quiet anymore.

 _(If something's wrong, he should tell me. We're supposed to solve this together! I should help!)_ "What - is something going on? Do you hear that? It -"

"Yes."

"Ok so - great, that explains everything." No response. She tried again. "What is _happening!?_ You're freaking me out!"

"Tell me, human. Do you know what a fairy circle is?"

 _(Human? Now I'm being called_ human _? What'd I do? Or is he teasing me again? No, he's too serious right now.)_

She panted out the answer despite his phrasing. "Yes - it's a portal, where humans get trapped in fairyland, or in the circle - but I don't know what -"

"Shh."

"Well, you asked -" They came to a halt.

Sarah strained her lungs and ears for sound and air. The creak was now a quiet groan, and it set her teeth on edge. Her mind raced _,_ and she started ticking off creatures that lived in the woods, but the list endless. Wolves, witches, basically anything that went bump in the night and liked the taste of humans.

 _(But he said fairy circles. What does that mean? Are fairies after us? Are they making that noise?)_

It seemed unlikely, but she remembered how in her first time in the Labyrinth one had bitten her. Still, wouldn't he be able to stop them?

 _(Maybe before he got drained of magic.)_

She glanced at him, opening her mouth to speak, but he moved again, pulling her down the path silently.

Until they reached another dead end.

Another wall of mushrooms, this one larger, a mess of them, sprouting in-between and on top of one another.

She heard a growl under the groan and she turned, searching - it was him. He was growling and staring at something. She followed his eyes but he was looking at the same wall she was, his face a darkened glare, his eyes sparking in the dim light.

 _(What is he seeing? Does he have super vision now too?)_

She squinted, trying to lean towards the mushrooms when he looked sharply over his shoulder. The growl became some kind of angry muttered word she didn't understand - though it had the force of a curse behind it - and he pulled her back down the path, but she stumbled over -

 _(What?)_

Mushrooms. She'd tripped over a line of mushrooms the size of dodgeballs,

 _(But that wasn't possible, the path was behind us, and there weren't mushrooms growing in the path, so why were they here suddenly and how were they that big, that large, and how did I not see them -)_

\- but here she was tripping over them, her arm flailing for balance, she didn't have time to gasp, her free hand shot out to steady herself, connecting with a tree, which -

She recoiled, pulling back instantly. The tree was _slimy._ It was _soft. It was warm._

 _(What the fuck!? What did I just touch!? What is that? Is that alive, or -)_

She managed a "Fuck -"

Before she lost control over her movement again, as she was hauled into the air, and flung into something. Everything was in motion around her and she was suddenly being held in place, confused by her new vantage point.

 _(What? What - )_

"Don't fall asleep."

She was being carried, and she opened her mouth to protest, but the wind blew in her face and against her words. He was carrying her and he was moving fast, not quite running, but the trees were blurring past, a rush of grey. He was gripping her rather tightly, too.

 _(What is happening? Why am I being carried? I was either too slow to walk or -)_

 _(- or I'm not fast enough to outrun whatever's chasing us.)_

She tried to look as he moved but there was nothing.

 _(Just the mushrooms and the trees and -)_

The groan grew louder and louder, and soon it would be a roar, she could feel it. It sounded like a thousand balloons being strained, about to pop. Her head knocked back into his chest as he stopped abruptly. He hunted, searching, then found a new path quickly, dodging left but then slowing down, she could see the mushrooms on the ground, he was walking now, and then she knew why - the path had narrowed again. He was squeezing through the trees, slipping between them, fighting to find the path. The mushrooms were pinching it down to only about a few feet across, the trees creating a wall of grey around them, their trunks so thick together that they barely showed any of the forest beyond - Sarah suddenly remembered the moment just before she'd been scooped up -

She'd fallen, tripped over the mushrooms that were suddenly around her, her hand touching a tree trunk, and then she'd pulled back, pulled away, because it hadn't felt like a tree at all - it had felt warm, lifeless and dead, but somehow it seemed alive _-_

She shuddered, shrinking into him and trying to make herself smaller. She didn't want to touch the trees again. She didn't even want to remember touching the tree. His pace was slowing even more now, he was stepping carefully, finding the path - the forest was now so packed together that the trunks looked like bristles on a brush.

 _(That's not good. That's not good at all. Why does it look like they're closing in on us? Are we running from the trees? Are they…)_ It was a stupid thought, but were the trees chasing them? _(They're not, like, running, but… And no fairy tale I've read does that, but -)_

 _(But that tree felt alive, and -)_

If the tree was like that, then…

 _(Then what do the mushrooms feel like? And how did I trip over them? They weren't there when we stopped -)_

 _(So maybe they grew.)_

 _(But they were huge, they were large enough for me to trip over, that would have to be incredibly fast for them to get that big and that large…)_

The groan increased, not deeper, not higher, but louder, it was a roaring moan, pushed and forced against the silence, drilling itself on her ears. She turned her head, searching for the source of the sound, but it was all around them.

 _(Where are you. What are you. Are the trees making that sound? Are they -)_

Nothing she saw correlated with the noise, but she turned her head, then grabbed his shoulder, levering herself up on him to look past, still searching, maybe in the path behind them -

no path.

 _(What?)_

There was no path behind them. There was only a wall of mushrooms, one that was growing, straining, creaking, popping and _stretching_ up…

A wall that was surging slowly towards them.

But _that's - that's not fair! You can't block out the path with a wall of mushrooms, you can't just -_

 _(But that's exactly what the Labyrinth does, it's unfair and it changes the path, its only constant thing is change.)_

 _(But there's no room! We're going to get crushed!)_

 _(No. We're going to get_ _swallowed_ _.)_

The noise grew and she watched, horrified, as the ground peppered with tiny white buds, almost like snow, and a hundred tiny mushroom crowns popped into view, small, as big as a coin, but they were sprouting up, up, and up, their stems, grey and slimy, growing long and pushing towards -

 _(Towards the treetops.)_

Sarah's view was obscured again as he turned sideways and wedged them both through trees, but she didn't want to see anymore.

 _(Are those mushrooms growing into the trees? Are - are those mushrooms - are_ they _the trees? Mushroom trees?)_

 _(But then that would mean… This whole forest looks the same, since the beginning. Is… Is it all mushrooms? All of it? The trees, that smell, it was all - mushrooms? A forest of mushrooms? Why - and -)_

 _(Did he see that? Did he hear them growing and know what it meant? Is that why we kept moving? Did - does he know what's going to happen if that wall gets to us? What happens if those mushrooms touch us, what if -)_

She'd seen fairy tales with pictures of mushroom forests, but none that grew together until they squashed their victims, or engulfed them. She looked ahead and her heart dropped as mushrooms started to now sprout in front of them, blocking what little path they had left.

 _(Shit. Hurry!)_ She silently urged him on. He was squelching through, pulling and tugging between the trees, no - the stems - the giant mushroom-tree-stem-trunks, the rubbery stretch of a thousand spores growing against each other was getting louder and louder as the noise went up her spine and the overwhelming heat of decay went up her nose -

 _(Fuck.)_ Sarah didn't have claustrophobia, but dying by being immersed in a wave of fungus didn't seem like the way she wanted to go.

 _(Fuckfuckfuck faster go faster please hurry -)_

She saw light. _Real_ light, sunlight, a sliver of it as it pierced through the mushrooms in one tiny ray. _(The end of the path!)_ Their skin changed from that pale sickly, moldy grey into a darker, ripply texture where the light touched them. _(Almost like they've been burned.)_

He reached it, but the crack was only a few inches across and he was straining, she felt him pushing against the mushrooms, but there was light, she reached for it, shoving aside dried, smoking stalks of mushroom trees. She was trying to help him as he shoved forward and finally they were in the light, there was mud, mud and some grass - the world flipped around again and she fell onto solid ground. He staggered next to her and she moved out of the way as he stumbled past her into the sun, the bright, piercing sun. She sucked down gasps of cool, fresh air, finally looking up into the blue sky.

"What the fuck was that!?" She gasped, blinking in the light. "They - those mushroom things - they were trying to trap you - us!?"

He looked back at the forest, also breathing heavily and frowning deeply. Chunks of mushroom were in his hair and shoulders. She wobbled to her feet, brushing him off, picking up a bit in her hand.

She stared at the piece as it shriveled against the sun. " _Gross._ Were they trying to trap us? You said something about fairy circl-"

A shadow fell over her hand, and a dull roar drowned out her words. She looked up, looked up and back, back at the blackened stalks in the light of day, back at the hole they'd made coming through, back at the hundreds of mushrooms that were popping up and _out of the hole_ , their stems twisting and searching through it, sprouting and moving forward. Some of them charred in the light, but the dead became a shadow of protection for living, for the _growing,_ and they _were_ growing, growing fast and so Sarah looked back at the forest, and then she looked back _into_ the forest as it suddenly encircled her in that horrible roar, that rubber stretching sound, up and around, in a wall -

The mushrooms were surging forward, they were around her, they were surrounding, there was no sky, there was no grass, there was only mushrooms.

The smell of decay washed over her again, like a hot damp cloud moving forward, the clear air sucked away, she looked forward, no, she looked back, she looked back to him, forward and back to him -

But everything was in slow-motion now and she was caught in it. The light was being obscured, then the grass was, then the world, and he was -

His eyes were wide, his frown mixed with something - shock? Rage at being beaten? Concern? - She didn't know - and then his hands grabbed her shoulders, but -

 _(The ground) -_ the mushrooms were everywhere, they were pushing _forward,_ encircling her, they were blocking him out - _(What is happening -)_

She couldn't think, couldn't move, everything was grey - she could see him, but she was being pushed, _pushed back, pulled away…_ Sarah saw his face, saw his eyes - his hands were at her wrists, they were holding, they were gripping - _(That hurts -) -_ he was trying to pull her, to save her; but it was too late, way too late, and her hands - her still-slimy, mushroom-coated, hands - were in his, and she saw his eyes - just his eyes -

He yelled something, something that could have been a _no!,_ something that could have been a thousand words, but she was trying to speak, trying to tell him - to tell him -

She got out the words, "I'll be -" and then mushrooms were growing against their hands, forcing them open and apart and she screamed at their slime as they wove in-between her fingers. Sarah slipped and fell back into the forest, into squelching mud and darkness.


	10. Ironclad

A/N: If y'all look to my last a/n you'll notice a little thing I wrote where I mentioned I was getting sick - well I was out for a real long time. Tbh I barely remember posting that chapter. It WOULD be Valentine's day that took me out (shakes fist at Cupid). BUT I'd like to give a huge THANK YOU + multiple fist bumps to all the awesome reviews and follows! Some people have posted really kind words about my story and it was pretty cool to read them through my fever/hallucinations (never feel pressured to give reviews, btw, I just wanted to say thank you!). I hope you like this next bit! We still have a loooonnnnnggggg ways to go, but everyone that's stuck around so far: Thanks. Again. (Also cliffhangers annoy the crap outta me as a reader, but I couldn't avoid them. HEH.)

 **Iron Clad**

She got out the words, "I'll be -" and then mushrooms were growing against their hands, forcing them open and apart and she screamed at their slime as they wove in-between her fingers, and she slipped and fell back into the forest, into squelching mud and darkness.

"- Fine…" Sarah breathed out. The air was dead. The climbing wall in front of her grew thicker and thicker and now there was no light, there was only a gray glow, and the groan and soft pop as hundreds of new surrounding caps emerged.

"No! NO! Nononono -"

She was trapped.

 _(No, no, don't think that do not think that.)_

Her chest was heaving to breathe from adrenaline and panic, and that _smell._ The mushrooms were still growing, surrounding her, caging in the tiny patch of earth where seconds ago she'd been holding -

 _(Maybe there's a path - a path, it's part of the Labyrinth, I have to find - there's still a path here somewhere, right? It'll get me back, right? Look. Really look.)_

There was nothing. There were only small mushrooms and large mushrooms, and a very tiny patch of grass that she stood on, grass that had belonged to the outside world, and now it was dying, the green stripped away and rotting even as she stared at it.

 _(Will it do that to me? Will I -)_

Sarah tried to fight the panicky voice in her head, the voice that said she was _trapped_ , _trapped and going to die, held away from him and separated forever from Hoggle and Didymus and Ludo and now even Toby and alone, all alone again -_

She stood up and kicked the wall of mushrooms. _"No!_ Come on, I am not trapped, I'm _fine. I. Am. Fine._ I'll get out, I'm not trapped, I'm not alone, I'm not lost -"

 _(But I'm sure as hell not found, either.)_

She felt tears prickle up and brim. She tried calling out but nothing responded, nothing except for the popping and stretching mushrooms. _(Don't waste your breath, idiot. And stop crying.)_

She couldn't.

 _(I'm not alone, I'm not trapped, I'm here, I'm right here in front of you, I just saw you, I know exactly where I am, and just - just find me, come on, and -)_

 _(He already left you for a year and then some. That's twice now he's just let go, isn't it.)_

"Then I'll just have to… Find him." She tried to force her voice to sound optimistic, but it was cracking against the lump in her throat. _(Again. You'll find him again. Again and again and last time it only took you a year and most of your sanity -)_

 _(Yeah, that.)_

 _(Whatever. I'll make it. It's time to go, time to make a plan and move, Williams. Always time to move on, right? Never stay in one place for too long. Plus, you've been lost in the Labyrinth before, and you've - you've always -_

 _…_ _Gotten out - )_

But Sarah couldn't move. She squatted on her patch of dead grass, trying to stop the heaves of sobs that were coming from her body as shock began to pour over her.

 _(I'll solve it, I'll fix it, I'll beat it -)_

 _(He's gone, I'm stuck, I'm trapped, I'm alone again -)_

 _(I'll solve it -)_

 _(I'm alone I'll fix it I'm trapped I'll beat it he's gone and I'm not strong enough and it's all my fault I'm trapped, I'm stuck, I'm forgotten and I'm…_

 _…_ _I'm alone again.)_

 _(No, no, there's a way to beat this, there's a way, it's just a fairy tale and fairy tales have rules and I have studied and I have learned and I_ know _this, come on, think, think and get back to him please, you just have to -_

 _\- have to beat this -)_

Memories flooded her.

Sarah had always read fairy tales, but she'd begun _studying_ after she'd left the Labyrinth. She read and re-read her favorites, and then, when everyone had disappeared, had poured over variations, over myths and ancient tales, had cross-referenced folk lore with cultural legends -

And she'd begun to study mazes, as well.

And it was then Sarah started noticing a distinct pattern. A pattern of humans and mazes. Of how many people had died at the hands of the Minotaur. How Tom Sawyer had barely escaped with his life in an endless series of underground tunnels. How many people died in catacombs and caves, or trapped in the passages of the pyramids, entombed and buried and _lost_. When she'd run her Labyrinth, she'd gotten help, she'd bargained, she'd begged, but mostly she'd been _lucky._ The place she'd encountered as a child had been… Gentler than this. Child-like. The oversized rocks, the comical creatures, the fairy tale that followed so perfectly. It was all stylistically over-done. But it was exaggerated because it was a distraction, the sparkly light and the bright colors and loud noises - it was all hiding, covering up. Because under that was a danger, under all the stories was a danger, because the game was fun to play and enjoy, but if you lost - if you _failed_ \- if you broke the rules of the story, didn't say the magic word or treat the old lady kindly, or stay on the path, or pick the right weapon to slay the dragon, didn't do the exact right thing at the exact right time - then the consequences were very real. There was something there, something under the surface of all the stories, something whispering behind the words that not all fairy tales are for children, not all fairy tales are fair, and not all fairy tales end with happily ever after _…_

 _(Ok, well, no fairy tale ended with 'and then the princess cried herself into a puddle until someone rescued her and/or she died'.)_

 _(Besides,)_ Sarah wheezed out a shallow breath, then forced herself to stand on weak knees. _(This is me. I am the knight. I am my own hero. I fought my way back on my own and I will save myself now if he can't._

 _In fact, I'm supposed to saving him, too. I promised. And I won't break that.)_

"Ok, good, cool, this is a piece of ca-" Sarah froze. Had she really just said that? _(Come on. What next?_ _It's not fair?)_ She tried again.

"Ok, Williams. What's the plan here?" Her voice was shaky. She couldn't stop the tears but she wasn't going to let them keep her from getting out of here. The fact was that she didn't know how far she was from him. If the mushrooms had circled her and pushed her back, there was a good chance they were moving forward on the other side and forcing him away, further. And right now they were getting closer and closer to her. Closer and taller.

 _(So the plan is get the fuck out of here, any way possible. Maybe I can climb on top of them.)_

She stepped on top of a toadstool, her foot squelching. "Gross."

She hopped onto another cap, and it broke under her weight. Sarah yelped, falling into the mushrooms, her legs getting trapped between two. She wriggled free, looking into the wall.

 _(I know he's beyond that, somewhere. I just have to get - to get into it - which means going into a wall of solid spores.)_

"Fuck."

She did not want to go into the wall, let alone touch it, but she also wasn't going to stay put like this. Not held hostage by mushrooms. She reached out and grabbed a stalk, testing it. Nothing happened. The skin felt like a warm fishbelly, but it gave as she tore into it, her fingernails digging into the flesh. Sarah threw it behind her, and caught sight of her patch of earth, which was now almost invisible. Spores were everywhere, strewn across the ground, they were about a foot behind her, small but shooting up fast.

 _(I'm not going to have room to stand_. _)_

She began trying to rip the stalks apart, but the more she shredded, the more started sprouting, hitting her feet, pushing against her ankles, and suddenly, she being pushed forward and off balance, her left leg trapped in-between them.

"Fuck! _FUCK!"_

The wall was bubbling with round tops, little buttons that shot up to join the mass of swaying fungi and Sarah thrashed her trapped foot, completely losing her balance and falling forward, falling _into_ it, her arms sinking in. It felt like reaching into a bowl of very thick noodles. Noodles that were warm and rotting and smelled of decaying mushroom flesh.

 _(Think, think you idiot. Think or you die. The mushrooms will surround you, you will get sandwiched in the wall, or they'll pin you in from the back and you will be stuck, you will be stuck and surrounded and you_ will die, _Sarah. You will run out of air or room or something but you will die if you don't get out now. You're not playing the game right. Follow the story, follow the logic. How do you beat a mushroom?)_

 _(_ You _don't! Light does, light and fire!)_

She had neither. She unwedged her arms with a sucking noise and began punching the wall, clawing, the mushrooms breaking into chunks, getting in her nails, her hair.

 _(Why did it separate us? Why did the forest keep coming? We beat it.)_

 _(We didn't beat it, he outran it. So it kept coming. Because - because it wanted him.)_

 _(No, it didn't take him. It took me.)_

 _(Why?)_

 _(IS THIS IMPORTANT!?)_

Sarah strained for air, but there was no air here, there was only musty hot, the scent of death and mold, her chest was so tight, she was clawing and clawing, clawing and being crushed, but she kept trying.

 _(It's important because I'm not going to die! We must have done something wrong, we must have not beaten them right, so figure out the rules, or the story, or whatever's going to get you out of here!)_

 _(I was walking and the mushrooms were sprouting up, he had to carry me - why? Why did he grab me at that exact moment?)_

 _(I was hurt! We needed to move!)_

 _(But we needed to move before then. He knew something was happening. What did he say to you?)_

She closed her eye, trying to remember, feeling the stalks press into her from the back, pinning her legs, pinching against her knees. ' _Tell me, human. Do you know what a fairy circle is?'_

 _(It's a portal, but -)_

But that hadn't been his question. His question had been, do you know what it is, not what does it _do_.

 _(Why didn't he just tell me!?)_

 _(Maybe he wasn't sure, maybe there wasn't time to explain. Just like right now there isn't time to debate this! Now: What is a fairy circle?)_

 _(It's…)_

She was sinking into them. Her legs were pinned together and her weight was pulling her down as the mushrooms were pushing up. She twisted, trying to use her forearms to pull up, the crushing feeling against her already-sore legs becoming painful. Her back was also beginning to spasm in protest - the mushrooms were pressing her bag into her from behind and Sarah could feel every stupid object she'd put in there against her spine.

 _(A fairy circle is just that - a circle. A ring. A ring in the ground, of moss, or stones, or flowers like daisies, or -_

 _\- or mushrooms.)_

 _(Mushrooms.)_

Sometimes, in some places, it was mushrooms, white, small, mushrooms that grew in a perfect circle, and woe betide the human that dared step foot inside, for they were now trapped, they were stuck, they couldn't go forward or back -

 _(So… I'm in a… A forest of mushrooms, in a magical land. Even the trees are just giant mushrooms, mushrooms that move forward onto the ground and chase you and block the path and try to - )_

 _(They try to trap humans. It's a giant fairy circle. And I'm the only human. And it wants_ me. _)_

Or it wanted something. Usually fairy circles trapped their victims _in_ fairyland, but she was already here, and it didn't feel like it was exactly going to let her leave or live.

 _(How the fuck do I beat an army of mushrooms!? How do you beat a fairy circle!?)_

 _(Think! Think! Come on!)_

Her arms were hanging in front of her, propped up on mushroom caps, her hands ached, clawing endlessly at nothing but rubbery pulp. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, to remember as she wheezed in thin scraps of air.

 _(Rope. You could pull someone out of a fairy ring with rope.)_

 _(I don't have rope.)_

 _(You could bargain with the fairies.)_

 _(That option seems to have run out. Or rather, been trapped out.)_

 _(You can dance around the circle in the opposite way until they let you go.)_

 _(I can't even move.)_

 _(You could switch places with another person.)_

 _(There's no one but me. I'm the only human it wants.)_

 _(You could -_

 _…_ _\- You could fall asleep forever and not have to worry about it, Sarah.)_

"OW!" Her eyes snapped open to the dark grey surrounding her. Something in her bag had all but stabbed her in the back as the mushrooms pinned it against her. She wriggled, twisting the bagstrap away from her, pulling it and trying not sink in further. The mushrooms had risen to her armpits. Her arms tugged, and finally the bag slid out, covered in slime. If she was going to die, she didn't want to be stabbed by her bag AND crushed _._

 _(There's got to be a way to beat fairies, Williams. Is there anything you can use in there?)_

She rummaged; her pencil, sewing kit, bandaids, crystals, a glow stick, salt packets, powerbar, extra crystals -

nothing stood out.

She whimpered exhaustedly, head sagging down.

 _(I didn't even bring a knife!?)_

 _(That's right, because I used the knife to get through to this place, and then it hit the ground and that was the end of that. Fuck me. Goddamnit, brain. Even if a knife couldn't cut through them, I would've been able to use it somehow! Just stabbing them repeatedly, or maybe even the iron from the blade, I could've used -_

 _could've -_

 _…_ _Iron - )_

Her head snapped up.

 _(Iron beats fairies. Iron beats fairy magic.)_

 _(So do I have iron!? Anything - anything - )_

She rummaged again, pencil, sewing kit, bandaids, powerbar, crystals -

Nothing.

"Fuck! No, no, come on, please, please -"

Her whisper was absorbed into the squelching around her. She'd sunken up to her shoulders now, the mushrooms pushing her arms up to her face as she went through her bag. _(Goddamnit. God-fucking-damn it.)_ She tried to search through again, but the strap adjuster was getting caught on a stalk, threatening to tug away from her. ( _No!)_ She tugged back on the strap, pulling it towards her, bending the mushroom until her fingers closed around the buckle. She yanked it off the stalk, the metal buckle rubbing against her grimy fingers, sizzling.

 _(… Sizzling?)_

Metal.

 _(It's metal._

 _…_ _It's iron.)_

No, that was wasn't completely right. It was a buckle on a bag, and it was a cheap one at that, and while it might have iron _in_ it, it could also be scrap metal, a fusion of different types all melded together -

She didn't have time to argue the logistics with herself. The buckle was hot in her hands, and the mushrooms were thrust up against her chin. Thin white stalks pushed into face, obscuring her vision, tilting her head back, pushing her arms up, pushing her away from the bag. She fought to see around them, to breathe through them, and she clenched her fingers around the buckle, hand thrashing, trying to pressing it into something, anything. She couldn't see, couldn't breathe, there was only grey, getting darker and darker above her as it closed in -

Her flailing hand connected with something, the metal pressed in, and she could hear a sizzle, it was very small but it was there and it bit into mushroom flesh and then something hot _exploded_ against her hand.

Grey slime, like a molten marshmallow, hit her fist, and now she could move her forearm. She rotated blindly, pressing the buckle into something else - there was a high-pitched whine, and then a _pop_ as something gave and now she could pull her arm -

 _(YES.)_

She tore at the rest, pressing the buckle close to her face, against the stalks that were choking her, there was the keen, the whine, and then pop and the burst of grey as stalk sunk down, like air escaping a jar, deflating into blackness.

She sliced again, and again, and again. The heat hurt her hand as she carved the buckle into the mushrooms like a brand, searing them to blackness. The cap slime was everywhere, it was in her hair and on her hands, but she shielded her eyes, cutting and swinging blindly, wildly around her until her arms were free, her torso was free, her waist, her legs, she could move, she was slicing towards the wall, her hand was burning, she was cutting and cutting and cutting -

Her arm was on fire, and it started to feel heavy, dull, jerking movements, but even as she switched hands the stalks were trying to grow back, to push against her arm, to tangle her feet. She swung again and again, punching against them, her arm was soaked in their ooze -

And there was _light,_ there was _real light - there was a small hole, and then a slightly bigger small hole and it was enough for her, even as spores grew up around it to try and block her -_

She shoved her bag through, bracing her legs against the spores that were still growing behind her. She followed her bag, the mushrooms trying to keep her in, to crush her ribs, to block her way, push her back, but she was thin, she was so thin, too thin, and she was making it through the impossibly small hole- `

Sarah Williams fell - exploded and fell - through a hole in a giant growing wall of mushrooms that continued to bubble upwards and outwards, and she fell a long way, her hair twisting up behind her as mushroom slime oozed out of the opening.

She hit a smaller wall of mushrooms that was growing up in front of the other others. She bounced, hard, then wedged between stalks.

She forced her head up, it was so heavy, and her eyes were closing - but they were growing, growing all around her -

Sarah slid through them, slid and fell into more, trying to wave her arm in front of her, still blindly trying to cut - she landed hard on grass, but that wasn't far enough, it was never far enough, rolling, rolled and rolled down a hill. A hill that ended in a stream, but the world was a dizzying blur and she couldn't see, she fell into it, hard, and this time she landed in sharpness and cold, stones and shallow water. Rocks and water and blood and Sarah, Sarah clinging onto a bag and a buckle even as it sizzled in her hand and the pain didn't keep her awake, it just kept her there. She couldn't think to get out of the water and she couldn't think to let go and so there she stayed, shivering in shock and pain. Was she crying? Was she breathing? Was she awake? She didn't know. She thought she heard a shout.

 _(I can't remember how to turn my head. How to think? How do I yell back? I hope something happens. Hope this feeling stops.)_

Her teeth were chattering, and a wave of dizziness hit her. She sunk into the water, which was shallow, but you really didn't need more than a few inches to drown in, especially if you couldn't move. Her ears were ringing.

 _(Did I hear anything? Did anyone actually yell? Did I make it back… Did I help them… I promised… Promised… I would…)_

She didn't know. Her stomach jolted suddenly and she dry-heaved, her body shaking in convulsions as she gagged repeatedly, black spots in her eyes. She wondered vaguely if she'd gotten any mushroom in her mouth, and then her stomach heaved again, but it was all bile, stomach acid and soon it would be blood, she knew. _(At least it's getting washed away by the water…)_ She thought dreamily. The black spots were getting bigger.

Something turned her over, but she was choking and she wasn't, she didn't need to breathe, she didn't need to feel warmer, the cold was fine, because you could _sleep_ in the cold, sleep and not worry about… Mushrooms, about anything…

She felt hands over her heart. A tiny memory flashed dimly in her mind of someone hitting her chest, and she hoped that the same sequence wouldn't repeat… Not that it mattered…


	11. Two-Way Reflection

A/N: OK CLIFFHANGERS OVER! For now. Ish. Actually, don't hold me to that. Hello! Bit of a break there but I've been real busy. Lil note about the upcoming section: Jareth's whole bit about magic/disappearing/how the Labyrinth works here is kinda vague but it'll get explained later. Originally I had the whole thing written out in this section but I felt like it got super expositional so I cut it out and pasted it back in later… (Of course that means when he eventually does talk about it the whole scene will take a sharp turn into Exposition City, and for that I apologize in advance, with the only small excuse of, well, the reader needs to know… I wish I could avoid an info dump like that but I think it's the only way. Anyways, all will be answered eventually, cliched writing style or not :'D And if it makes sense to you already, well get ready for it to be dumbed down and repeated!) Fun fact I scared myself writing these next upcoming chapters. I'm def not claiming to be Stephen King and I'm also def not saying YOU, the READER, will be scared, but I AM saying that if you play scary music + write at 1-4 in the morning sitting in front a mirror in the dark you might regret some life choices. This is certainly is one of the more DARKER sections I wrote, for sure. CHEERS.

 **Two-Way Reflection**

She felt warmth, warmth massaged and flowing over her stomach, warmth spreading into her throat, her arms, legs, fingers… Her heart was actually becoming quite _hot…_

Sarah's eyes opened and her head launched backwards, inhaling air in a loud, sucking gasp. Her lungs were open and they needed air, all the air, all of it -

The pressure over her stomach and heart was gone, the feeling, it was all leaving - _(no no I need more I need MORE -) -_ she gasped again, panting, and looked up, blinking in the clear light.

"Can you hear me?"

A shining Goblin King swam into view, silver hair caught in the brightness of the sun like a halo. "Good, now… Let go."

She tried to say _of what?_ But her mouth wasn't working.

"If you can hear me, I need you to let go."

Her arm was being gripped, she realized, and Sarah turned her head, following the feeling. Her hand was still clenching the buckle, and it was so _hot_ \- she remembered pain again, very quickly. She released in a spasm, blood running from her burned fingers and palm, but it seemed to be - seemed to be _repairing_ slowly, mending enough that now it just looked like a very bad sunburn…

"Ow." She managed.

She tried to sit up, but was pushed back down, his hand moving from her arm to her shoulder, pressing to keep her in place. She closed her watering eyes from the sunlight, trying to remember. _Sunlight._ Not a musty darkness, but sunlight. And she was… Damp? Wet. There was water in the background, somewhere close by, she could hear it - her hand hurt, but only a little, and the warmth was flowing into it. Warmth, and there was other feelings to it - dimension, layers, and - the feeling was helping her somehow, was ebbing away the last burning pain with the sound of the water… She took a breath, opening her eyes again. He stared at her, waiting.

What was that expression on his face? He looked… Tired? Angry? No, exhausted and stressed, his brows knitting together so hard they creased his forehead. Why was she on the ground. Why was she warm. Why did he look… Drained? She closed her eyes, trying to remember -

 _(The mushrooms.)_

"Fairy circle!" She blurted out.

Yes, the mushrooms were a fairy circle, well - a fairy circle mushroom forest, and she'd survived, and now she felt… She felt very awake, very alert. In fact, she felt… Almost good. Not perfect, but she didn't feel…

She didn't feel like she'd just been almost entombed by killer fungus.

"Very good." His features relaxed slightly into normal arrogance.

"It was a fairy circle, the forest was a fairy circle and it wanted… It wanted me!" Her brain made the connections after she said them, but once the words were out loud they seemed to make sense.

"Try not to move for a few minutes." He was frowning again.

"Why - why did it want me? Why didn't it attack earlier? Were those really trees at the start or were they mushrooms the whole time? Was I supposed to slice it? Did you -"

"If I tell you, will you stop fidgeting?"

She nodded, and he grabbed her face. "Nodding counts as fidgeting."

Sarah stopped, waiting. He paused, then continued. "That was a fairy circle."

"I know! I figured it out I -"

He covered her mouth, his cool hand wrapping almost around her entire jaw. "Yes yes, very clever, shut up." She rolled her eyes as he removed his fingers. "Fairy circles like to trap humans. It disguised itself, so I didn't realize it at first, but I started… Hearing something, the deeper we got -"

"That weird noise right? That's the sound of them growing isn't it!" She grinned. _(I figured it out I beat it I did it -)_

"Yes, I -"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded, anger abruptly there. Her emotions were sudden, coming in bright bursts. "If you heard them then why -"

"I didn't know _what_ I heard until I saw you sitting on the ground and they started popping up all around you."

"But even then you still didn't say anything! You just asked if I knew what they were and I did but that didn't help until the very end and then -" The words were babbling, her thoughts unfiltered. She tried to sit up but he pushed her back down again.

"Sit _still._ I was trying to find the path. And then you touched the tree and the whole forest began to grow, _fast,_ to block us as we tried to reach the end. And then we got out, but clearly I didn't take you far enough -"

"No that's not what happened -" She knew, and was speaking, she knew everything and she had to talk and he needed to listen. "You thought you beat it but you didn't beat it because you have play by the rules you have to follow the story or the legend or the myth and you didn't you tried to cheat so it got you back, well it got _me_ back and it pulled me in because it wanted me and I had to beat it because I know the story, I know all the stories, but I didn't realize how it worked until the end I kept trying to beat it like you and that didn't work and I almost died I think I couldn't breathe I couldn't move but then my bag and the buckle because the buckle is iron and it was a fairy circle and iron buckles on bags beat giant fairy mushroom circle forests and I remembered and -"

Sarah ran out of air. She needed to breathe. That's right. Breathing was a thing her body needed to function. She sucked in a gasp, fighting her bubbling stream of words.

"I see." He scanned her face slowly. "Interesting."

"Why did it wait so long to take me though, fairy circles traditionally just take their victims right away and I was in it so -"

He shrugged. "You were with me, so perhaps that camouflaged you, as it were, for a time."

"- But that doesn't even entirely match up because at the end it was even trying to block you so then why would it do that unless maybe there was something that _I_ did or maybe it was because it was the Labyrinth itself because if we consider the Labyrinth or at least the Labyrinth's _magic_ sentient or maybe more like a plant and energy and so if we don't -" She needed air again and was forced to pause. She reeled, and the world began to catch up with her, the last of the warmth in her body fizzling out, slowly. "Whoa… Ow… What… What's happening to me. Why am I… What…"

He sighed. "I healed you. You're running on magic. _My_ magic. You're reacting to it very… Enthusiastically."

"I… What? You… Healed - but - your magic! And you weren't supposed to heal me until - until the end, when we -"

He shrugged again. "I have a _little_ left; and quite frankly, precious, you couldn't wait. Besides you're… Far from healed. More… Temporarily repaired."

"But - but -" _(But that was stupid. And you wasted it on me.)_

He waved his hand. "It was… A small favor, considering I let you get… Taken."

She stared at him, trying to think of what to say. _(He'd just wasted what little he had -)_

He spoke abruptly, addressing the sky. "I tired to go back in."

 _(Ok, well, I tried to go back out. So?)_

 _(No, Sarah, that's not what he's saying. Listen. Look at him. Look at his face. He's trying to tell you something.)_

"I tried… To find you. To go back in. To use magic, to do something to get to you, but… Fairy circles, in this place, as I am now, don't seem to… React to me as I'd hoped. But I did… Try." He studied the clouds, his words hanging in the air.

She stared up at his chin, silver hair catching the sun, trying to understand, remembering his earlier face - he hadn't looked well. He'd looked tired, and pale. His eyes had had circles under them…

 _(That's what I look like when I'm stressed… Or worried…)_

 _I tried to go back in… To get to you… I did try…_

 _(Was he worried about me?)_

The thought came suddenly, and startled her.

 _(Well, yes. Of course he's worried about me. I mean, I'm the only one who can save him. I'm his mealticket back to power.)_

 _(Well, I don't think you'd feel the need to heal a ticket. At least not all the way, not like I am now, I feel… Almost… Normal, almost healthy. I feel like I could run or at least jog, and he didn't need to go that far. A little magic and I'd probably be walkable, right? In pain, but able to move. But he_ did _heal me. A lot. So I think… I THINK_ … _He might just feel bad.)_

 _(That can't be right.)_

 _(He was worried about me? About me, as a person?_

 _…_ _No… Right?)_

"Th… Thank you? Thank you." She said it quietly, trying to gauge his reaction.

He looked back down at her, then spoke just as quietly. "I… Should've tried harder. Or… Told you what was -"

Guilt. There. That was it. _That_ was the expression. Yes, he looked tired and stressed and still slightly pissed, but there was another expression there too, and finally she saw it: Guilt. Haunted. He thought…

He thought it was his fault she'd disappeared.

"Whoa, uh… Stop - just - just calm down." She didn't know how to react to _guilt._ Guilt from a man who'd never once shown remorse for kidnaping her brother, or sending trap after trap after her, or -

 _(But he was in control of those situations, every time. He had power, he could've saved me, or stopped the trap, or given me Toby, but just now? When I needed help?)_

 _(Just now he was powerless.)_

"We're… Yes, you should've told me, but I know you were trying to… Find the path, and… " She scrambled to think of the words to remedy the situation. A shamed Goblin King was something she'd never thought would happen, and now that it was, she know how to deal with it. He'd apologized earlier, after the orchard, and after the books, but both time she'd practically had to strangle him to get a layered sentence resembling the word 'sorry'. This was… Different. It wasn't that he needed to apologize; it was that he needed her forgiveness.

 _(I do forgive him! Kind of. For the mushrooms, I forgive him at least._ _For Toby, not so much.)_

 _(That's not the point, idiot! There's more important things right now. As much as I'd love to revel in this, it really_ isn't _his fault I got taken, and apologizing for something like that isn't going to make me feel better. Just… Relieve his conscious. He did try. Hard.)_ She swallowed, looking him in the eye as much as she could, fighting herself for the words. "We're… Even. Stuff happens. I got lost, you healed me, we'll call it fair. Besides, look at me now." She sat up, then stood, stretching. "I feel great. It was almost worth it!"

 _(It wasn't but god do I want him to stop looking like that.)_

He still looked concerned, watching her movements.

"So… Thanks." She finished awkwardly, her feet scuffing at pebbles.

He inclined his head, his face -

 _(Stop looking like a kicked puppy! Dark sorcerer my ass! This isn't the Goblin King I kn- a thing I can deal with! I don't - know what to do with you!)_

 _(Change the subject!)_ "What uh… What happens if you use up all your magic?" She tried.

"I am… Unsure." He frowned, as if the thought was just occurring to him.

"What do you mean, unsure? Like - you have literally no idea?"

"Yes. If you're… Truly feeling well, then we should go."

He stood, then took her arm, pulling her into the stream. She stared at him.

"This is the path." He looked at her as she paused. "What are you gawking at? Or do you need some more time -"

 _(A grown man in leather pants with feather hair walking into water - one who claims to be in charge of this whole place - just told me he has no idea what's going to happen to him if he loses his magic. No big.)_

"Are you gonna… " She tried to think. "Become… Human?" He laughed. "Hey, you said you didn't know!" Now she felt like an idiot.

"I am _unsure,_ but I won't lose my _genetics._ "

"Oh so now you have all the answers." She grumbled, splashing along. "Are… You're not gonna, like…" She hesitated, not wanting to say the words out loud. _(If he laughed at me for suggesting becoming a human…)_

"No, I will not _die._ "

She shot him a swift glance. "You can't, like, read my mind, right? That's not an elf thing, is - _"_

 _"_ _You_ are easy to read, not your mind, precious."

"Am not!" Her voice twisted easily, slipping back -

"And _now_ you're angry that I know what you're feeling." His grin widened, teeth sparkling with the water.

She gave him her best 'drop dead' look, one that she hadn't used since she was 16 and grounded or banned, arguing against Karen -

 _(He always turns me back into a child! Ass. But at least he's not… Looking… Guilty.)_

"You were alway extremely easy to read, precious." He sighed.

Sarah kicked up the water viciously, splashing him. " _Not_ precious, don't get all Gollum on me. And if I was _so easy_ to predict _,_ then how come I won your Labyrinth, Buddy the elf?"

His grin returned slightly as he looked at her, considering. "Who knows. I did offer…. Counter options besides succeeding."

 _(What? That feels like a different answer than the question I asked. Ah. I know what he's doing here. He's - he wants to bring up -_ that. _Well - )_ She opened her mouth to retaliate and then paused. _(Wait. Questions. He never answered mine.)_ "That's not - don't change the subject! You don't know what's going to happen to you when your magic… Expires?"

He shrugged, sloshing through the stream and looking everywhere but her.

 _(Great. He's going to lose his magic, isn't he. While I'm here, while we're here together, something's going to happen right when we need it and he's not going to have any left and then we have no idea what's going to go down.)_

 _(How does that even work? He'll turn into a statue? An owl? A ghost? I don't - what?)_

Sarah stared at the stream, thinking. He had almost no magic left, and he'd just healed her. A lot.

 _(Almost out of everything and he uses it on me, with no idea what's going to occur after that!? He's a black hole waiting to happen! Or… Or dead weight, that I can't carry, or -)_

Her mind exploded with impossible images.

 _(HOW WAS ANY OF THIS JOURNEY A GOOD IDEA?)_

"How - how come -" Her words fought against the scenarios in her head. "How come it's - taking your magic? The Labyrinth."

He sighed again, sounding bored. "I am its king as of now, correct?"

"Yes, but - but - I won the Labyrinth!"

"So you did. But you are not… You cannot rule the Labyrinth."

"What? Why not?" She squinted at him as he continued to stare straight ahead.

"You are not… Right."

"What." She peered into his face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are… Human."

"So? So what?"

"So a human cannot rule the Labyrinth."

"Then…" _(This doesn't make any sense!)_ "Then how come I won!?"

"Fluke. Luck. Who knows? The point," He spoke swiftly, cutting off her blossoming questions. "Remains: you won. Years ago, but you won. And now the Labyrinth is unstable. You cannot rule, and I have… Lost the title. This is why it is chaotic. This is why it disobeys me. It has no one to lead it."

 _(So_ that's _why he thinks I'm to blame. But that's not - that's not my fault! He can't - wait. Just - just get this one answered first.)_ "But _why_ is it taking your magic?"

"Just as I used it for power, it used me for _its_ power. I will fuel it and be a part of it until a new leader is found, or until we can solve it and return it to me."

Questions. So many`in her mind, popping up and overwhelming her tongue, but they were drowned out now by a growing dull anger, beyond frustration, beyond irritation.

Anger at… At what? At the ridiculousness of the situation? At his calm resignation?

 _(At him.)_

 _(When was he planning on telling me that he didn't... Know?)_

 _(I'm mad at him.)_

 _(At him, walking along, pretending that everything was fine, everything was cool, I'm not scared, I'm not afraid, I'm in control and composed and Mr. Smooth-Showoff, no worries, I know everything stupid human, don't bother me. Sure I'm a little low on fuel, sure I can heal you even though I'm running on empty, sure I'll endanger both of us and then drain myself to help you, a human, who won by - what had he said? Luck?)_

Luck. Great. If she was so lucky, then why was she walking along with the equivalent of gun with one bullet?

And what happened when the last shot fired? What happened to her? To them?

"Then why didn't you just stay behind?" It wasn't a question, it was a demand. She stomped through the water, sending droplets flying.

He chuckled infuriatingly. "Where, pray tell, would you have me wait?"

Her voice rose in pitch, anger creeping in and tightening it. "Somewhere - somewhere safe! I could've - I could've just gone by myself, or taken Ludo, or -"

"Hmmmmm." The laughter hidden in his hum sounded like a purr. "And why would I, the King of the Labyrinth and the Goblins, remain somewhere safe?"

"So - that you wouldn't hurt yourself and get drained, or -"

His voice curved darkly. "Does Ludo know this place better than I?"

"No, not now that's it's changed or gone rogue or whatever, but -"

"Does Hoggle?"

"No, but -"

"Do _you?_ " His tone was starting to become a bit more flinty now.

"Of course not -"

He spoke over her, flattening her words. "Then how would you have even made it this far? Tell me that. What would Ludo have done differently to help you back there that I did not?"

This new tone confused her. He was mad, at what? Her doubting him? Yes. _(He's getting offended.)_

"No - I'm not saying we're better than you, at all, I just -" Sarah forced down a breath. He wouldn't understand her rage, especially now that he was mad, too.

 _(Goddamnit this is bigger than your fucking pride.)_

She needed to use logic, needed to make him see that this was a stupid, stupid idea. "What if - what if we don't make it? What then, huh?"

He stopped, halfway up a side stream that branched to the right, his tone calm again. "I daresay I'll find a way to help, _useless_ as I will be."

"Oh, don't you dare put words in my mouth!" She snapped at him. "You're far from _useless,_ O high and mighty elf king! I know that, obviously! But _you_ don't know what's going to happen! What if you pass out or start dying!? What's… What am I gonna do!? How am I going to help you!?"

He stared at her. "What indeed." And then he moved forward.

"That's - that's not an answer!" _(Asshole!)_ "What happens! I'm serious! What do I do then? It's not safe for you here, and I -"

His tone cut into hers. "It's more unsafe for someone like _you,_ but here we are."

 _(Translation: I don't need saving. I am the Goblin King and I need no one, including you, human meat puppet.)_

"Fine." She snapped. "Then I guess _I'm_ the stupid one for being concerned about you."

There was a pause.

"You are… Concerned… About me."

 _(Shit, that's not what I - that's not what I meant. To say. To - I'm not concerned about_ him _, I'm concerned about ME, and getting out of here. Well, not just me, I'm not a sociopath, I'm worried about him, not_ worried, _that's not the word, not like - not like the way he's - no! That's not what I -)_ She blinked. "I mean, yes. You're my way out of here, and your magic is the only way I can -"

"You didn't mention being concerned about magic, you said you were concerned about m-"

"I know what I - that's not - the point is, you're an idiot! What kind of person goes back into a Labyrinth that's feeding off their dwindling magic-life-force-supply!?"

He shrugged, his mouth a smirk. A stupid, stupid smirk. "For the same reason I agreed to rule over it in the first place."

"Which is!?"

He set his jaw. "Power."

 _(This bullshit again.)_ She let out a wheeze of frustration. "I don't understand what's so worth risking your life over some stupid _power_ trip! And," She cut off his remark of protest. "Why you'd come back to the very thing that's going to pull you in! Why you didn't wait behind and let me do it! Or at least stay somewhere _safe!_ You're like a… A dying sparkly moth flying right into the _sun!"_

The last sentence she yelled. She wasn't proud of that fact, but rage outweighed emotional control at the moment. She could feel heat in her cheeks, creeping up her throat.

Astonishingly, he laughed. "You're… _Chastising_ me."

"What!?"

"You _are_ concerned about me." His eyes glinted, flashing in triumph at her. She felt the sudden urge to gouge them out.

"I am _not -_ " She hissed out before his chuckle undermined her. He patted her arm reassuringly.

"I will not _die,_ of that I am certain, though rest assured, my savior -" He caught her furious gaze, and all traces of the grin faded from his face, though there was still that look in his eyes, twinkling and soft -

 _(No, there is nothing in his eyes like that at all! Shut up!)_

"- Your concern at protecting me is immensely noted. And," He cut off her splutter of protest. "I took the Labyrinth because I inherited it, and because I saw its potential, not because I was _addicted_ to it. Lastly, I _must_ accompany you, whether or not you and I prefer each other's company, because when we solve it, I must accept you giving the rightful title back to me."

He said it like each little point was the simplest, easiest thing in the world, a brightly colored answer that a school child could see, dot the i's and cross the t's, put a bow on it and call it a day and even you, human, could understand.

She was seething. Seething but…

 _(But goddamnit those answers do make… Some sense. Some. I don't know what being within the Labyrinth means, but the way he keeps saying it… I don't think he does either. And the "inherited" bit - that sounds stupid as fuck, but that's basically why I fought for Toby, right? He was_ mine. _Mine and some part of me - a very small one, I'll admit, but it was there - did like the potential of keeping a brother around to share and play with. And… I guess him walking with me_ now _makes sense - I'm not to blame so much as, like - it's more like I_ have _to be the one to fix it. Could've solved that ages ago if he'd bothered to admit it earlier, but - now I have even more questions, and it still sounds so -)_

She opened her speechless mouth to attack him again, facing forward so she wouldn't have to look at his stupid condescending face, and -

Was greeted by herself and him, standing arm in arm, ankle deep in water.

What?

She blinked, silent questions dissolving on her tongue. Her twin stared back, jaw also open.

No, it was definitely her. Staring back at herself. Sarah shrank away, trying to go -

"It's a mirror." He said.

"Oh." _(…What!?)_

He poked at her, the reflection showing his smirk. Mirror-Goblin-King also poked her.

"I got it! I believed you!" She snapped. She could see his widening smile in the surface. " _Why_ is there a mirror here? In the middle of a stream!?"

He shrugged, moving forward. "Why was there an orchard made of jewels?" His hand extended, fingers going towards the gleaming surface -

"Wait -" She began -

It swung forward as he pushed. It was a door.

He looked back at her, hand on the mirror. "I am not a fragile hu- I am not a fragile creature."

She gave him her best withering scowl. She'd heard the 'human' part of the sentence. He was technically right, but that wasn't - _(that's not the point)._ "It's not about being _fragile,_ it's about not knowing - you can't just reach out and touch things, _speaking_ of the orchard, might I remind yo-"

He poked her again.

"What - oh, I get it. You reached out and touched me. Very clever." _(Incredible. How old are you? Does he not remember the rigged bedazzled fruits at all? Or activating the mushrooms? Ok, Sarah, try this again. Like you'd talk to Toby.)_ "Ok, you can _physically_ touch things, but - you can't - _shouldn't -_ go around -"

" _I_ am the Goblin King, and I will do -"

She made a frustrated groan, cutting off his yet-again speech about how he wouldn't be ordered around and was master of all the land and blah blah blah. She reached out, feeling the mirror, and -

Frowned. Her fingers wrapped around the frame. Entirely. "Wait." She said, trying to force her fingers to touch something that wasn't there.

"I won't -"

"Yo, just hang on -" Yeah, that was definitely what she _wasn't_ feeling. "This isn't a door. There's nothing behind here!"

He gave a bemused sigh. " _And yet,_ Princess, it is open."

"But it doesn't - there's -" She looked at the back of it. The river flowed _into_ the mirror, but didn't continue behind, the water abruptly ending, going into the flat glass. A flat wall of mirror, no passage, no tunnel. "There's nothing back there! It's… Bigger on the inside? I don't -"

"After all you've seen, you still trust your eyes?"

"No, but - I definitely don't trust this mirror." Sarah muttered quietly.

"Any better ideas, then? Since you seem to have all the answers?" His tone was testing her. _Try me, Mortal. Human. Pet. Princess._

 _(Stupid supersonic man-elf ears.)_ "Fine. Let's go."

"Are you quite sure? You don't want to throw a rock at it or maybe walk past? Keep going up a path that doesn't exist?"

 _(You're about to not exist, buddy.)_ "Nope. Let's do it." She was practically speaking through her teeth her jaw was so set. She stared ahead.

He pushed the door open, revealing darkness. And then he stepped in, pulling her after him.


	12. Mirrorrim

**A/N:** FEELS LIKE IT'S BEEN FOREVER AND A DAY SINCE I UPLOADED! My computer *seriously* glitched out this time and put a *major* hold on everything so I've been scrambling to try and fix/unlock/reupload everything. Here's a new and very short chapter BUT I promise that next week I should be uploading the next/final part of this segment. As always, thank you so much to those that favorite, follow, and just generally send me such encouragement! I truly appreciate it! Enjoy - or at least have a taste until I can get next week's out!

 **Mirrorrim**

 _(I don't know about this one.)_ Sarah felt herself stiffen as the door closed behind them, and they entered into a dimly lit passage, her tense fingers curling around the bagstrap. She inhaled sharply as they moved forward, their reflections played out in front of them at every angle, into -

A hall of mirrors. The water continued onto the floor in a giant puddle, reflecting back the mirrors on the walls, the corners, and - _(yep) -_ the ceiling was a mirror as well. The light was eerie silvery-green, flashes that contrasted and cut, creating dark angles of shadows with ghostly highlights. Sarah's reflections were odd, some weirdly stretched and warped and all at slightly askew angles. Her face looked pale and tired, and…

 _(I look scared, is how I look. What's the challenge here? This is just creepy. I keep seeing movement, and I know it's mine, but… If I wanted to hide, mirrors are the perfect camouflage.)_

"Well, this is… Interesting." She tapped her foot in the puddle, sending a ripple through her own image.

"How quaint."

She heard the sarcasm in his voice. "What?"

He moved them forward and Sarah jumped as she watched herself go in ten different places at once. She decided to look at the floor, which at least broke up the movement with the ripples of water.

"You have these in your world, do you not?"

She'd had been so concentrated on the ground that she'd lost track of the conversation. Something about quaint. "Uh… Mirrors? Yeah, we have mirrors…" She saw the look on his face. "Oh! You mean mirror mazes? Yes. We have them. I used to do them as a kid. At fairs." _(Does he know what fairs are?)_

 _"_ And how did you… Like these?" He gestured to the walls, ten Mirror-Goblin-King hands pointing in every direction.

 _(Um. I don't know. What does this have to do with anything?)_ "They were… Ok. They were also a lot - simpler. There were fewer - the ceiling and the floor were normal."

"And so you preferred the… Simpler ones." He dragged the word _simpler_ out like he was saying stupid.

 _(_ … _Is he trying to start an argument?)_ "No, I - … It was just… That's what they had. So…" Her sentence trailed off. She glanced at his face in a nearby wall, but now his expression was blank, and they walked in silence, until the passage ended. "This is new." She frowned. _(A dead end right off the bat? But we only went in a straight line -)_

He threw her a scoff, then pulled her forward, heading right for the wall.

"What are you -" She tried to pull him back. "What - stop! Don't you see the dead end!? Hello!"

He walked into and through it. It was a - of course.

 _(What an idiot. It's a mirror maze, Sarah. It's not a wall, it's reflecting a wall.)_ Her neck got hot again.

"I thought," His voice was barely disguising the laugh he clearly wanted to let out. "You'd dealt with mirrors before?"

"Again," She felt the heat begin to rise above her neck. _(Don't you dare, blood cells. Don't even think about it.)_ "I was little when I did them. And they were simpler. How'd you know that was fake!?"

"And to think," He sighed dramatically, "You were the one to beat my Labyrinth. Perhaps I should've used Toby as incentive again."

She elbowed him as hard as she could, which wasn't very, given the way he was holding her arm. "Not funny. And I had help last time." _(Like I'm pretty sure I've said repeatedly.)_ "And," She added, a new thought occurring, "This one's a lot harder than yours!"

Silence.

 _(… Shit.)_ "Wait, not harder, harder, not like - not like it's _better_ or - … It's harder because," She scrambled. "It's not - yours. So. Or, no. Wait. It's not - it's yours, but it's not yours. Or, it's yours, but the magic isn't - you aren't controlling - _your_ magic isn't controlling -"

"My _magic_ ," His tone was slow, like explaining something to a hyperactive child. They reached a T passage, and he turned right. "And _my_ Labyrinth, is totally different. It is shaped to my ideas, my creations and my mind. It is designed to every part of my ideal. Simple _mirrors_ would not even begin to capture me."

"But… The bog of eternal stretch would?" Sarah snorted.

"It's a bit unorthodox, but a rather interesting trap, don't you think?"

"I…" _(Can't argue with that. Eternally stinking is such an immature idea of punishment -)_

 _(Oh right, because he's the king of, what was it, maturity?)_

She conceded his point by rolling her eyes. "Fine, it's your mind, sure. I guess that explains why the majority of surfaces sparkled. So, then, the Escher room… "

"Also to my design. All of it."

"But why do the goblins live in tiny houses? Why did you bother designing -"

"Part of being a ruler is considering for your subjects, is it not? Take this… Place, for example. This is in consideration for no one. It is ostentatious. It exists to confuse us."

 _(Is that what it's doing?)_ Sarah glanced nervously around them again. He was right - it _was_ confusing them. Or, maybe it was confusing her - he seemed to be pretty sure of his footing, as he guided her into false walls and passages. _(Of course the guy who creates fake dreams and promises understand a Labyrinth all about illusion.)_

A Labyrinth that existed to confuse… It was linear, all sharp lines and angles and indefinite dead ends and paths. No more uneven ground or mysterious forests to encounter, and it should have been easier, but it wasn't. It was worse, trickier, playing on her vision, lying to her face. The mushrooms she could hear and the trees were so pretty she _knew_ they were dangerous, and the books - well, they didn't do anything really until the end, but this? This Labyrinth said here's the path, right here, point A to point B, and then you walked straight into a wall of glass.

He steered them sideways into yet another passage she hadn't seen. No, she'd seen it, but it didn't look like a passage, it looked like a shadow in a shadow in a shadow, which is essentially what everything was starting to look like. A great big repeat of the same fractured echoes and angles, her ghostly sick face warped and twisted on and on and on. Her feet resisted him ever-so-slightly at each turn, her eyes telling her body not to trust his movement, but of course he was the only thing she _could_ trust -

 _(The person who kidnapped my brother and tried to get me lost and killed - well, at least seriously hurt - is the one person I can trust. Thanks, irony.)_

 _(Did the other Labyrinths work like that too? Did they all have a purpose? I mean… I guess, but like - besides getting us lost - no. No, I'm not doing this bullshit-hyper-critical-symbolism-thing. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't, the point is, we beat them, we're going to beat this, and whatever this Labyrinth throws at us -)_

They rounded the corner and she jumped at her reflection again. _(Goddamnit.)_ She couldn't recognize the image that presented itself to her. A pale face that met hers, flat eyes with dark circles that stared back. The dim lighting seemed to both illuminate every flaw and hide anything familiar, striking and emphasizing her sunken cheeks, contrasting her sleepless eyes, her painfully distorted skeletal body, each bone projecting from the sickly skin, as if a breath away from piercing through -

 _(Don't - don't think about that. Don't look at it. You. That is you, not an it. You look like shit, but staring at yourself isn't going to fix it. This Labyrinth is all about distracting you, and you're not focusing on what the problem is -)_

 _(The problem_ is _distraction! He already said so. That's it. That's all. He's going to get us out of here. Not every Labyrinth is a trap. Not every Labyrinth is a bomb waiting to go off, weird thing are already happening with this one, so just focus on getting out. Just keep walking and don't look back. Or forward. Or -_

 _just stop looking at yourself. )_

She forced her gaze to the edges of the mirror's surface. They were shiny and clean. No, it was more - they were polished, completely unblemished or untarnished. Even with the watery floor they weren't marred or bent from corrosion.

 _(Well, it's not like there's anyone in here to disrupt and dirty the glass, is there? They're just preserved. And it's magic, so - maybe no dust. Besides, you didn't question the jewel forest. And stop looking for clues to something that isn't there. Nothing's going to happen, ok? I've been over this. I don't need to freak myself out anymore than I already am. This place gives me the creeps. )_

They hit another dead end. He backed out and turned right, going into a zigzag passage. Left corner, right corner, left, right, left right.

Her eyes found her reflection again, drifting over like a magnet. There she was in the mirror, sick and sad as ever.

 _(How is it possible that I look this terrible but I'm still standing? Standing and walking? No wonder he had to heal me. I look… Dead.)_

The mirrors slightly stretched her image, warping her even more, pinching her body and elongating the thinness. The effect, combined with the old dirt and stained blood from the previous Labyrinths, made her look like a bedraggled ghost. She stole a look at his reflection and sighed. Correction; she looked like a sick bedraggled ghost next to _him_. Sure, he had the same shadows casted on his face, and he looked a bit tired, but on him it looked… Like a gothic poet or something. His hair still caught the dull light, layers streaming about, his cape flowing out behind him like an etherial overgrown bat. His skin even _shone_ in the gloom better than hers, sort of highlighting his cheekbones and chin, creating a striking contrast, while hers looked more… Dull. Patchy. Pinched. She stared glumly as his flawless, perfect face in the mirror -

 _(How come_ you _had to go with me? At least next to Ludo I'd look like a normal person -)_

\- when his face turned towards hers suddenly. She started, then glanced up at him from his side, but he was already looking forward again.

"Sorry." _(He saw me staring. Goddamnit. I wasn't ogling him, I was - I just -)_

"What?" He glanced down.

"I didn't - I wasn't staring - I just -" She gave up as he cocked his head at her. "The reflections are distracting me. Were. Just - nevermind. Sorry."

She lowered her head, limp hair covering her red face, avoiding his questioning look.

 _(Great. He totally saw me staring in the mirror. Jesus. Just blindfold me already. I'm useless in this one.)_

She forced her gaze to stay straight ahead, glaring at the path. They hit the last of the zigzags, ending in what seemed like another wall, but he turned into it, finding the entrance; this one was almost visible, Sarah thought, the lighting was slightly different, or maybe she was just finally starting to recognize the false ends, the passage seemed a bit darker than the rest. She peered down the new corridor that greeted them, testing her vision to see if she could spot another entrance, and eyed the wall closest to her, trying to look further and further into the refracted depths, but it was endless, a tunnel of mirrors in mirrors. She was pulled to the left through another thin passage and was face to face with their reflections, hers gaunt, and his -

He was staring at her again.

"What?" She turned to look up at him, but he was already facing forward as he finished guiding them through.

"What?" He repeated back to her.

"You just looked at me."

Now he turned. "No. I'm trying to concentrate on getting us through."

"Wh- yes you did! I saw you staring at me! In the mir-"

"Not every thing you do is worth staring at." He retorted cooly.

"… O… K. _Fine._ Sorry. My… Mistake." _(Jerk. I saw you. I was embarrassed when you caught me staring earlier, but at least I admitted it! And I was staring for a reason! Not a good one,)_ She narrowed her eyes angrily at the floor, _(- but still._ _Whatever. Let it go. He's never going to admit he was watching you.)_

Polished gleaming mirrors on mirrors in mirrors… They almost reminded her of the one in her bedroom back home. Of course, hers was prettier, and she didn't look hideous or warped in it (well… She hadn't used to), but an idea occurred to her nonetheless. "Are these mirrors… Are they like _my_ mirror?" Sarah tried to sound casual.

"No."

 _(Gotcha. He didn't even hesitate. He knows_ exactly _which mirror I'm talking about, he didn't even ask, which means he_ had _to have sent it.)_ "So… That was you, then."

"Eh?"

 _(Don't EH me.)_ "That mirror - _my_ mirror - at home. The one I got for my birthday, the big fancy silver one. That was you." He said nothing. "You _did_ give me that."

"Hoggle."

"What?"

"Hoggle thought a mirror would be something you would… Enjoy. And a more practical way for them to travel through. Your previous mirrors were not… Durable." He said 'durable' as if he were saying cheap.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "So…"

"So he - Hoggle - knew you received gifts on - whatever day you were born. He thought of a mirror. You can thank Hoggle for it."

 _(Oh.)_ Her heart wasn't sinking. She wasn't disappointed. Hoggle. Of course it was Hoggle's present. He would be considerate enough to think of that for her. Besides, it wasn't like - she hadn't _wanted_ it to be from anyone in particular. Of course not. It was a beautiful gift either way. From anyone. She wasn't upset.

 _(Not even a little.)_

 _(Right. Not even a little. I didn't want it to be from him anyways. I didn't want the Goblin King caring about my birthday, or trying to creep on me with a two-way mirror, or spying on me or anything, so - so yeah. So. Hoggle. Good. Hoggle is great. Hoggle is the best. Hoggle got me the mirror.)_ "Well, I'll - have to thank him for that. Then."

"I… Understand you liked it."

She turned her head towards him slightly. _(Wait. Was he - was he lying? Why is he so interested if it was Hoggle's present?)_ "If it's… Hoggle's, you probably wouldn't care if I loved or hated it, right?"

He shrugged.

 _(Fine. Be stubborn.)_ "Well, you seem to know a lot about it for being _Hoggle's_ present."

"I know all that goes on through my kingdom."

"Well, I thought it was beautiful. _Hoggle_ has a real taste for design. It's the best part of my room, actually."

"Hmm."

She waited, but he didn't continue. Fine. Maybe it had been Hoggle's present, maybe not. She didn't care anyways, and she didn't want to waste time trying to interrogate him, as he _(the all-powerful ruler who knows everything about his entire kingdom including mirrors that somehow-aren't-his-but-still-wants-gratification-that-I-liked)_ obviously needed to concentrate on the endless Labyrinth.

Another passage, another dead-end-invisible-side-entrance. Then a longer hallway, straight for some ways as Sarah looked, watching it stretching on in front of them. A big unending line… Maybe… They were reaching the end. She glanced around, meeting her own eyes. _(I hope. I'm not gonna be sorry to leave. It's weirding me out and I can only handle my shitty reflection for so long.)_


	13. Two Kings

A/N: Hahaha remember that one time I said I would upload the following week and WHOOPS THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. But here it is and it's extra long and creepy(ish) so... Here! Thanks a ton to everyone who followed and reviewed, cheers!

 **Two Kings**

Another passage, another dead-end-invisible-side-entrance. Then a longer hallway, straight for some ways as Sarah looked, watching it stretching on in front of them. She glanced around, seeing only herself and him, meeting her own eyes. He stared at her, his head lowering in the mirror, eyes wide and dark.

She jumped, then elbowed him, hard. "What!? What's that face for!?"

"What?" He glanced down at her.

" _What_ are you looking at!? Did I _do_ something? Is something weird about my face, or do you want to say anything, or -" Her tone was sharper than she'd meant it to be, but the expression in the mirror had scared her. He'd looked possessed, almost murderous -

Or had she seen the wrong angle of the reflection? Had he been looking at something else and she'd only caught his gaze?

 _(No, no, I met his eyes in the mirror. He was looking at me. Right at me.)_

 _"_ I've been paying attention to the path, not _you._ " He snapped back.

 _(Great. Now I pissed him off.)_ "I -" She pointed at the mirror, her own finger's reflection aimed directly back at herself. His head turned towards her again, the same dark expression on his face. "There! Stop lying! I can see you - skulking at me in wall!"

He stopped, scowling down at her as she looked back up at him. "What are you on about?"

"I can see you staring! Why are you - look, if you want to say something, do it. Just - stop giving me murder-eyes in the mirror like that! It's creepy." She shivered, pulling him forward before he could deny it again.

 _(I don't even like stupid mirror mazes. This is giving me a headache.)_

She began to remember every horror movie involving mirrors, most of which involved some kind of showdown at a creepy carnival -

 _(Not helping, brain.)_

The water deepened as they rounded the corner. She splashed straight into it, sinking up to her ankles.

 _(Great. I didn't miss walking in this. Thanks for adding that back in, Labyrinth. Why are you even like this? I get the forest and the jewels… Kind of, I mean it's like a traditional fairy tale aesthetic, I guess… Even the books, sort of - but… How is this connected? Why are mirrors in it suddenly? What's the theme?)_

The passage walls narrowed, forcing her closer to him, her elbow's reflection almost brushing against itself.

 _(Ok, so - we're must be getting near the end, right? I'd ask him, but -)_

 _(But he's still acting weird about the reflection thing. What was that face he was making? Nevermind. Let him talk, for once. I'm tired of starting fights with him. If it was important he'd tell me.)_

 _(… Because that's exactly what he did with the mushrooms.)_

 _(Well, if he wants help, he's going to need to communicate. I'm tired of asking questions AND fighting. And he knows he's creeping me out, so maybe he'll stop.)_

They went left for a while before hitting a dead end and turning around, which was hard given the tightness of the corridor.

 _(Ok, tight is one thing, but it's getting downright cramped at this point. I'm ready to go now. How's the exit looking, Goblin King?)_

She glanced sideways into the nearest wall, but he wasn't looking at her. Scowling, yes, but not staring at her.

 _(See? He listened. He stopped.)_

They went back, taking a right, and hit another dead end. The light was even dimmer at the end of this passage, deepening the shadows, her dark reflection barely lit. They went back, splashing through quietly until he found the next opening. He turned left.

He turned right.

 _(What?)_

She looked down at her feet. They were going left. But they'd gone - no, they were - they were turning right. She'd gone to the right - she'd seen herself go right.

 _(I'm walking to the left.)_

Sarah looked around. They were walking left, the reflections all shuttering with them as they continued.

But.

"Did… Did you…"

He didn't look at her.

She continued, swallowing nervously. "Hey, um… Did you uh… See that?"

"See what?" His eyebrow was raised as he stared straight ahead.

 _(Great. Now he's avoiding eye contact altogether.)_ "That. Back there."

"I haven't so much as _breathed_ in your direction -"

"No, no, wait -" Zigzags again. Right left right left right as she tried explain. "We um… We went right."

"We went left."

"No, we went _right,_ but we also went _left, -_ "

"Perhaps _you'd_ like to find the next opening, since you seem to know everything about everyone and direction and who's looking at whom."

That stung. They reached a dead end. He sloshed around angrily, glaring at her as he dropped her arm.

"That's not -"

"Perhaps I wasn't looking at _you_ , but you were gazing at _me,_ rather than concentrating on the path."

 _(So… He's upset that I yelled at him for staring at me?)_ "Ok, look, I didn't mean to -"

"What's said is - you've said that a lot today."

She took a deep breath. _(Stay calm, Sarah. Just prove your point. He thinks you're mad at him.)_ "I - I'm just - I don't like this place. I'm - on edge. I'm didn't mean to _yell_ at you. But earlier, when we went left, we also - we turned right in the - you really didn't see anything?"

"We went _left,_ as far as I can tell, but, again: if you suddenly feel a better sense of direction, find the next passage."

"That's not what I'm -" _(It's like he's trying to start a fight!)_ Sarah bit off her the rest of her angry explanation, clenching her fists. He crossed his arms, saying nothing.

 _(Ok, fine. I guess he's not getting that I'm really creeped out. He's just not listening, period. Whatever. He wants a direction? I can… Try. I can find the opening.)_ She squinted, searching. _(There's one here, right? One that he sees? He's not just testing me?)_

 _(Could be. He's pretty pissed.)_

 _(He's always pissed!)_

 _(YOU yelled at HIM.)_

 _(Not helping.)_

She saw the back of herself in a mirror across the way, her body warped slightly, at a weird angle - _could be an entrance._ She pointed. "There."

He didn't move, still looking angry.

She walked towards the mirror. "Right - right - _here!_ " She threw out her arms, sloshing into it as her hand connected with solid glass and she stumbled into the surface. She looked up, not to an opening, but into her own wet, angry, and scared reflection, face to face. "Ow! Goddamnit." She muttered, breathing heavily at herself.

 _(Stupid mirror. That's twice in one day I've run into a w-)_ Sarah glared.

Her reflection didn't.

Sarah's jaw dropped, slacking; Her own shocked face looked back at her.

 _(What)_

She stuck out her tongue. So did the reflection. She glared again. So did the reflection.

"… What?" She whispered, her breath fogging up the mirror's surface slightly.

And in the mirror, Sarah smiled.

 _"_ _Holy fucking shit. What the fu-"_ She reeled backwards, losing her balance, falling and half-sinking into the water. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back up on rubber legs as she gazed, panic-stricken, into the mirror. Her reflection had the same face, eyes widened in terror, but -

"That's not the entrance, what are you -" He began.

"You don't - YOU DIDN'T FUCKING SEE THAT!?" She was tugging him, pulling him away. _(Move, move, move you idiot, go -)_

He only stared at her, frowning in confusion. And more importantly, unmoving. Her heart sank. He hadn't seen, didn't know, didn't realize - of course not, it'd only been her face she'd seen, an _d my head probably blocked it -_

 _(- but that wasn't the problem the problem is me, my reflection, the mirror, go, move, run, get us out of here please please please -)_

"I saw you completely miss the entrance, which by the way is -" He stopped mid-sentence, looking her over. "What is… What has come over you?"

"We need to _move._ " She hissed at him as he began walking _(so slowly)_ to the opposite wall, moving through it as she tried to shrink away from the surface of the mirrors. "You - you didn't see that at all!? At all!?"

"See _what?"_

She beckoned him to lean down, whispering into his _(pointed)_ ear. _"My reflection smiled at me."_

"Why are we whispering?"

 _"_ _That doesn't concern you!?"_

He smirked suddenly, an insufferable expression of 'I-know-exactly-what-this-is-you-silly-girl' crossing his features. "You say it blinked at you?"

"Yes!"

"And… Earlier you said I stared at you?"

" _YES!"_

He scoffed. "It's likely just an _illusion_ spell."

 _(… What?)_ "Ok - ok, so - what!?"

"It's an illusion spell. It's _designed_ to confuse you. Your view of the reflections are mocking you, changing directions, smiling at you, yes? They're trying to distract you."

She stared. "Wh- what!?"

"An _illusion_ spell is -"

"Why didn't you say something _earlier!? Instead of ignoring me or glaring at me like I was crazy!?"_

"I didn't realize _that_ was what it was, you kept going on about how I was staring at you - "

She blinked, her fear turning to anger, sentences to splutters. "You didn't - you - it's - but - why didn't _you_ see them!? Or say anyth-"

"I am magical, and I am still the current ruler of this place, so perhaps the spell doesn't work on me."

She narrowed her eyes. _(That's - that's not fair. I'm not going to say it out loud, but that's totally not fair_.)

He saw her expression and shrugged. "I'm also trying to concentrate on the path, so perhaps they just… Slipped past my vision."

"Slipped - past - arrghghg." She growled back a scream of frustration. "Fine. Fine!"

"I would have told you if I had noticed - "

"I said it's _fine!"_ She grit her teeth, forcing in a deep breath. _(I was just jump-scared for no reason. And you thought I was crazy. Whatever though. It's cool. I'm not terrified. I'm just reacting to a spell. A simple illusion spell. You know. The usual. Fine. A spell. I can deal with this.)_ "Ok. It's a spell. Is it - are those reflections dangerous? What else does it do?"

He waved a hand. "Nothing else. Just serves to divert you."

"You're _sure_ that's all it does? And you're _sure_ that's what it is?"

He patted her arm with his free hand. "There, there."

 _(Fuck you. And your hand.)_ She scowled at his fingers, heart still pounding in her chest, her hand curling into her bagstrap, nails digging in. He turned them around and steered towards another wall, which became a thin passage -

 _(And a very fuck-you to your magical sense of direction too, which so far only seems to be getting us deeper and deeper crammed into this place!)_

She kept her eyes firmly attached to the ground, but they rounded a corner and she glanced up to see where they were going - her vision slipped and suddenly she was face to face - her mirror-self was staring at her.

 _(Shit.)_

 _(At least only one of them is staring at you. The rest are moving in conjunction.)_

 _(… Did that one just beckon at me?)_

 _(No No. No. Not today, brain. Not today. It's just a spell. Just a spell to confuse you. Stay on it. A spell to confuse you - that would probably activate when you're getting close to escaping, right? Like a trap that gets set off? Right. That makes sense. That's gotta be it. Right. Ok. So then that means we're almost at the end, eh? Cool. Cool cool cool.)_

One of the Mirror-Sarahs placed her hand against the glass.

They turned a narrow right, forcing them sideways as the passage flattened to a few feet, and they scooted down. Sarah was directly in front of her own reflection, inches away from her face. Mirror-Sarah had both hands on the glass, and was - pressing.

 _(Just an illusion. Just an illusion.)_

Her reflection smiled.

They rounded the corner. Another series of narrow zigzags.

"Out of curiosity, how close are we to the end?" She panted slightly, her breath catching in her chest.

"I am… Uncertain, but we are near."

 _(Great.)_ Sarah looked towards the ceiling. She met eyes with herself, who reached down, down from above, hands pressing against the glass. If that reflection were to fall through, to break through -

but that was impossible. It was a spell. Just a spell. She shuddered. Mirror-Sarah laughed silently, never blinking.

 _(It's a distraction, just a distraction. Ok, ok. Illusions. Mirrors. Spells. Let's think about this logically, I'll break it down, I'll distract_ myself. _Mirrors always show things - truth, or sometimes a vision, of something we want to see, something to tempt us. Mirrors are… Sometimes they're doorways, like with the goblins, and sometimes they're - )_

Her reflection grinned, pressing her whole body against the mirror, hands and fingers outstretched and pushing.

 _(- Fucking evil.)_

 _(Sometimes mirrors are evil. They're portals to the dead or else they can hold in spirits, entrapping them in the glass. Narcissus died because of his reflection, they cover mirrors at Shiva so the dead spirits aren't seen, or when Dumbledore warned Harry not to spend too long looking into the mirror, and when -)_

She looked forward and now it was not one or two but a dozen Mirror-Sarahs that stared back, refracted at her. Mirror-Goblin Kings also watched, sullen. Her eyes were fixated on her own form as it began to ripple horribly, cheeks sinking even further in, her eyes darkening, arms twisting into bones, bones that grew and grew -

 _(What the -)_ "Do you - can you see that -" She choked out, her voice a crushed whisper.

"Just a spell." He replied, a hint of a frown in his voice.

She blinked and the reflections returned to their normal state. She shuddered again, pressing her arm closer into her side. She didn't want to get nearer to him as they walked, but between the mirrors and him, she'd take the one that was alive and didn't look like it wanted to eat her soul.

 _(Just your little brother's.)_

 _(He didn't to eat Toby's soul! And between them and him I'll take him!)_

They stopped. A dead end, a real one this time, and they rotated around slowly, the cramped space caging their movements. Sarah was face-to-face now, horribly mesmerized as her reflection moved against the surface, blowing, fogging up the glass.

 _(- It's starting to look more like a window -)_

 _(No, they can't get through.)_

All of Sarah's reflections were looking at her now, staring and pushing against the mirrors. They moved with her, more and more of her's and some of his, amassing like a small army, stalking them as they made it back out of the corridor.

"Now where?" She blurted out, feeling the anxiety in her voice, a tight high-pitched demand, almost a whine, but she _felt_ the eyes on her, could almost hear their breathing…

He wordlessly pulled her towards another long passage. She closed her eyes, trying not to trip, trying not to see the - whatever they were.

 _(They don't have a name, they're just - they're me. Well, they're not ME, but -)_

They turned sharply and her eyes opened as they rounded another corner, face-to-face, and suddenly Mirror-Sarah -

leapt forward at the glass.

There was no noise, but Sarah gasped, jumping back.

"Just a spell." His voice was quiet, but his arm shifted, sliding out of her elbow, moving his hand onto her upper arm, fingers curling around it tightly. She looked over at him, to respond but - just beyond him another Mirror-Sarah waved.

 _(What is she doing - why is she trying to -)_

Mirror-Sarah held up one bony finger to her lips, which looked bruised and bloated, like someone had tried to paint lips but didn't know how.

 _(What? What are you -)_

Her reflection pushed her hand up to the glass…

… And then extended fingers _through_ the glass.

"No -" Sarah gasped again. "Nonon-"

"What?" He turned to look. The reflection mirrored theirs perfectly again. Like everything was normal.

"She, I mean, I - I poked - I went through the glass." Sarah breathed. "We need to move. We need to move, _now. Fast."_

"It didn't actually come out of the glass, you just -"

 _"_ _You_ didn't _see it!"_ Her voice was cracking in anxiety. "She - I - just _went through!_ How are you not noticing how weird this is!? This - it's beyond an illusion! Look at -" She turned, and froze. All their reflections were gone.

"No. _No, no no -"_ She groaned, desperate. "No - no, why aren't - why aren't they here!? Where are they!? Are you seeing this? Are we vampires now!? What is this shit!?"

"I see it." His eyes narrowed, voice quiet. "But it's just a spell. They've _trying_ distract us. We're very close to the end now, but it's not _possible_ to move through -"

"Ok, but - but - but the goblins come through my mirror all the time -"

"That's a completely different set of _complex_ enchantments that _I_ alone crea-"

" _Hypothetically,"_ She was pulling him forward. "Say it, like, maybe was possible, ok? So let's just split the difference and get out,-"

"I've been trying to. Where did you say you saw her? Perhaps that's a clue to the exit -"

He stopped her in the water, suddenly solid against her feverish tugging, and she was stuck by his side, her heart trying to escape her chest. _(No no no come on please not now I'll do whatever to get out of this one please don't stop moving -)_ She tried to control her voice, which wanted to rise to a high weaving scream. "Right there, but it's not important, let's just go before it comes back and reaches through agai-"

 _(Before it comes back… And then they all left. We were looking forward while I yelled and pointed and they all disappeared… We were close to the end of the Labyrinth and this is its security, its security is an illusion, a distraction from the end, from getting out. A distraction like -_

 _A distraction so they could leave.)_

 _(Why would they leave? Where did they g-)_

Sarah's hair was pulled back, _fast._ She was twisted out of his arm as something dug into her head, and she stumbled with it, away from him. It was dragging her, away and down and she fell, stumbled again, towards the water, her hair was in it, her arms were in it, and she was getting closer and closer to the edges of the mirror -

She was pulled back up just as fast, roughly. Her hair ripped and she cried out but he pulled harder. He grabbed her the shoulders, drawing her into him. She reeled, clutching her head. _(Ow -_ _OW -)_

"What -" He began, his arms crushing her waist.

Sarah looked up in time to see something - sticks - tendrils - a spider?

 _(Fingers)_

Fingers that belonged to a hand, a gleaming, gritty, dark hand warping around his face -

"NO!" She leapt up at it, her own pain forgotten, trying to pry them off. He thrashed away, shoving her back, then bending forward fast, flipping something over his head. It landed against -

it didn't land against anything. It disappeared. It was there, about to hit the wall, and the water, and then it was-

-n't. There wasn't anything, it was the mirror. Just the mirror, her own reflection, scared and panting, staring back at her.

Sarah froze, staring. Every muscle in her body except for her eyes seemed to scream _move,_ but she couldn't help it, she need to understand what she was seeing.

Her reflection stared at her, gasping, terrified, but then it - it - it _melted._ Her eyes, wide and scared, slipped, spilled like paint, and her body whole began to melt and then it _fell._ It fell out of the mirror, but that wasn't quite right either - it oozed out, the form going in slow motion, the body spilling like a thick human tar as it left the mirror. Poured through it, a dark shiny form of something that - that _looked_ like it was trying its hardest to be a body. It glistened thickly, molten dark mirror, clumps of greasy hair pooling off a lump where the head should be, the strands dissolving back into the skin. Its torso elongated horribly, stretching out so that part of it remained inside the glass, part of it out, stretching, searching, it didn't have a face, it didn't have a mouth, it didn't have eyes, but it showed hers, back at her, a human-shaped mirror that reflected Sarah's face in absence of its own -

She had two thoughts at the same time:

 _(That's not me.)_

And:

 _(Illusion spell my ass.)_

It looked at her where its eyes weren't.

It held up a stump, an oozing stump that reached, and something extended from it, long black oily trails that stretched up, up to where its mouth should have been. A second stump extended and stretched and slowly split into 2, 3, 5 -

It was trying to make hands. And fingers. It was trying to reach. Reach at _her._

A final, third, and very clear thought behind the other two:

 _(Motherfucking shit. Run.)_

Something grabbed her arm. She screamed, turning to look at -

A human face, a very human and yet so-not-human face. His. It was yelling something at her. Something like the word _Go._

 _(Yes. That. Let's.)_

They sprinted down the hall as all the mirrors behind them began to ooze.

"Where's - where's -" She didn't have enough air. _(Where's the turn? Where do we -)_

He skidded to the right, only to suddenly stop again.

She looked up. The ceiling was caving down - no, it was _melting down_ reflections, ones that twisted and warped and weren't her and weren't him, they were trying but -

The colors melted off of them, her pale skin sliding down and off the bodies, his silver hair streaking away into their refracted blackness. They were shiny and dark and twisting and crawling, arms outstretched, reaching. Reaching down, down, coming and falling towards them, towards - _blocking the entrance._

" _FUCK!_ " She screamed, and pushed him forward, making it past them, making it into the entrance, making it -

Something hit her on the back, wrapping, solidifying, cold and it pulled _up._ They'd made it, she'd overshot them but they'd grabbed her as they went past, were pulling her up, up to the ceiling -

"AUGH!" She yelled out and he turned, saw what was happening. He yanked on her right arm, _really_ tugged, hard -

 _(Too hard -)_

\- and fast and she strained, trying to get back to him, remembering the mushrooms, the feeling of his hands slipping through hers as she fell into the darkness -

And then she heard something pop and her arm went limp and her scream of fear twisted away from her in pain. He grabbed her forward, pulling her away from - them - and he was trying to say something but she couldn't hear. She couldn't hear over the sounds of her own screams, she could only feel _hurt_. He jostled her as they moved and her mouth hit his shoulder, closing, but the screams -

There were still screams, her screams, but they were off in pitch, off in tone and ringing -

The mirrors were screaming.

No, they were _trying_ to scream but they were echoing instead, trying to echo her voice back but it warped and dipped in pitch, multiplying around them -

He was half-dragging her, half-cradling her through the water. It splashed as they went, droplets flying all around them but it was deeper here, much deeper and it slowed her as they churned through it. He was shifting over her over to his good arm, she was limping, which was odd because her leg was fine but she couldn't concentrate - the screams and the pain made it hard to go straight and -

He was lurched sideways suddenly as something grabbed onto him. He struggled forward, never letting go of her, dragging something with him - a black endless idea of an arm, wrapping around him, pulling itself out of the mirror as it held on -

Sarah didn't think, just kicked at it through the pain, kicked and kicked, her shoe connecting with a crunch and the wails rose higher, like scraping glass, like nails on a chalkboard. He was running, rounding corners too fast, she was getting caught on them and things were trying to reach faster out to get her, his arms no longer cradling her, now they was wrapped around her waist and her legs couldn't keep up as he hauled her forward. The water was everywhere, hands were everywhere, her face was warped and hideous and it wasn't even her face it melted and contorted into something dark and wet and the screams were layering and multiplying into each other endlessly -

They rounded the last corner and broke into -

It was a room of mirrors, like a giant dressing room, mirrors surrounding them, 12, 15, 20, she couldn't count them all but there was a dozen Sarahs, a dozen Goblin Kings, more than that, and they all started coming towards them, the ceiling dipping down and -

"E- exit!" She wheezed.

"I -" He was looking, eyes narrowed, panting.

 _(Mirrors, mirrors_ , _Sarah, THINK.)_

 _(- pain pain pain ow no words just pain -)_

 _(There's gonna be a lot more pain if you let them catch up -)_

 _(Mirrors. How do you beat a mirror? Mirror mirrors on the wall, show desire, mirrors show illusion, mirrors show you what you want to see, mirrors show the truth too, mirrors lie, mirrors are portals -)_

 _(ow ow ow shit my arm do I have an arm it hurts so much why -)_

 _(I don't know! I DON'T KNOW!)_

Her brain had every answer and no answer. She was being pulled to the center of the room by him, past the center, they were heading to the opposite wall but she didn't see an opening, her eyes frantically scanning, darting around the room and making eye contact with only herself. The water sunk to knee level.

 _(Why is it deeper? Is water getting in from somewhere? Is the ground sinking? Should I be looking at that come on Williams find the answers what are you missing -)_

 _(- Ow ow I'm missing my arm it hurts it hurts it's gone it's dead it hurts I wish I were dead -)_

They reached the opposite wall and he put out his hand -

It was solid. He hit it, hard, but it didn't budge.

"It's here -" He began,

And then.

She saw it, but - but what she saw didn't make sense. A hand reached out from the water, and it grabbed onto his leg. But that wasn't… Right. They couldn't attack from the water, they only attacked from mirrors.

Mirrors and mirrored _-_

 _(- Surfaces like a giant bodies filled with reflective water?)_

She opened her mouth to cry out, but didn't have the time. She didn't have words. He was already being dragged away.

"No -" _(No no nO NO NO -)_

She was swung sideways and down with him as he careened off course, cape pulled. She fell with him, tried to stand, was bent over as more and more hands latched onto his cape, pulling, choking -

"CAPE!" She yelled, but it was too late, they had his legs, they had a hand, he was strong but there was too _many. "NO!"_

She tried to help him in the thrashing water, kicking at them, trying, but his hand slipped off her waist and it grabbed, blindly for her, grabbing her useless right arm -

Useless but not unfeeling. A fresh wave of pain _ripped_ through her and she screamed again, screamed for him to hold on but please, _(please let me go -)_

Something cold latched onto her other arm, stretching her the opposite way, pulling her back, spreading out her arms horribly and her scream climbed in pitch, a high note of agony as she was caught between them, her bag swinging uselessly in space. She twisted to look, towards the wall, turned towards the pain -

She peered once more into her own face, decayed and warped. It kept shifting, like a camera trying to focus. It kept trying to - the skin would smooth, her face would appear healthy and bright, pretty even, her hair beautiful and curled, and then it would ripple and melt back to deathly pale, hollowed features with hungry eyes, then back. Pretty. Blur. Pretty. Blur.

 _(- ow ow ow ow Jesus Chirst ow let me go let me go LET ME GO -)_

'Let go.' The _thing_ in the mirror mouthed it and she was mouthing it with her.

 _(Yes, let go of him let go of everything just let go and stop the pain stop this please -)_

And that smaller voice in her:

 _(It wants you to let go!)_

 _(- It's right, just let go, let him go ow ow ow -)_

 _(Why?)_

 _(- Why? WHY? I am_ dying, _I am_ hurt, _I don't care about why let go let go -)_

 _(It wants you to let go because it doesn't want you to leave this place. It wants you. It wants him. Mirrors are illusion. It's hiding something. It doesn't want you to notice.)_

The face came into focus finally, her, her but healthy, glowing, beautiful. Sarah's face smiled back at her.

 _(To notice what? That I'm_ dying? _)_

Mirror-Sarah smiled hideously, the grin sliding off her face, teeth pouring out and trailing down what should have been the jaw. The grip on her arm tightened and twisted and she cried out louder, the pain beyond tears.

 _(Beat this or die, Sarah Williams. It wants you. It wants to be you. They all want to be you. They want to be real because they aren't, they're illusions, mirrors show lies and truth, mirrors show -)_

 _(- I don't care! Just let me go! -)_

 _(- Mirrors show dreams, mirrors show desire -_

 _(- I can't - )_

 _(Mirrors are gateways, mirrors are traps, mirrors - )_

 _(- hold on -)_

 _(Mirrors are portals -)_

The background shifted slightly, and Sarah saw her face again blur. That darker face, her body shifting, sliding -

His grip loosened again and then tightened one last time - she couldn't even see him under the pile of _things_ that cloaked him, but he _pulled_ and she felt her spine lock, her back arching as she screamed again, screamed beyond pain as her shoulder exploded in agony. It felt like 1 bone shattered into a thousand fragments, into dust, and he was pulling and pulling _(why is he pulling why is he hurting me more fuck the Labyrinth, fuck all of this, fuck me fuck fuck fuck just let me die just let me die just -)_

She heard a crack, and it felt like all the shards in her arm were re-mended in a horrible pop. Her pain flipped off so fast it cut her scream.

She gasped in air, her brain clicking with adrenaline. No more pain. Opposite of pain. Not pain but a hard, forceful reminder of the absence of it. She could feel her shoulder, she could feel bones bending and nerves and her arm was back and -

 _(No pain pain but no pain it's there but it's gone it's gone it was here I can feel it but -)_

Her reflection watched her.

 _(Think no pain just think. Mirrors - mirrors are portals. These creatures are coming from portals and Sarah wasn't there once legend or a myth where two mirrors together opened a door and things could come through and so what if there was a whole Labyrinth a whole magical Labyrinth that put hundreds of mirrors together and then -)_

 _(so it's a portal a portal to them because mirrors are portals to the dead to monsters to realms and dimensions because -)_

 _(Because they want something. They keep trying to take us and drag us in and maybe they want us or they want to_ be _us but they want to be real and they can't, they're just reflections, and sometimes Sarah, they reflect illusions and desires, but sometimes it's a distraction from what you really need to see -)_

 _(What do I really need to see? I need to see… To see… Not myself, not him dying, not anything but…)_

 _(… How to get out. How do I get out of a mirror? How would I hide an exit if I were her?)_

Mirror-Sarah smiled again, beckoning. ' _Let go',_ it mouthed sloppily. It _almost_ looked perfect, it _almost_ looked right, it almost looked… Real… Sarah stared, hard.

Almost real.

She loosened her good arm in their grip, moving her hand to the surface. It looked at her, hungrily, dull face/eyes tracing her movement, an oily hand reaching out from the depths, beyond the surface, trying to meet hers -

 _(Almost real.)_

"But you're _not."_ She breathed, " _You're a illusion. Hiding."_

 _(Hiding the truth.)_

And then she punched the glass as hard as she could.

She swung, again and again, mirror shards falling, exploding, raining onto her face and hair. Her shoulder throbbing as it smashed into glass, into fragments, hitting with both hands, over and over until her palm reopened and the blood from the burn and blood from the glass mixed and her hands felt numb and so she kicked and kicked, until there was no mirror, there was no blood, there was only her struggling, struggling into -

into the light.

The mirror was broken, water flooding in and out of the glass, the outside -

 _(The outside._

 _I did it. I did -)_

"I -" She turned around. The darkened hall showed the mirrors, all of them shattered, cracked against one another, the water a sea of glass, no warped Sarahs, no slimy creatures, no -

No Goblin King.


	14. Okay

A/N: I know what you're thinking: That's the lamest and stupidest title you've had yet. Yes. You are correct. But _also_ it's a throwback to the line in the movie: 'Okay, let's handle this thing logically.', Which Sarah did, as she mentions in how they escaped. It's also very deeply hidden easter egg for later on. Lastly, I tried to find a better title but it was such a terrible pun-thing that I had to keep it in there. ANYHOO, I have 30 followers for this story!? BWaHAHA? THANKS YALL, YOU'RE WARMING MY LIL CHARRED AND STALE HEART. Seriously, I'm sure now that I've written this it'll drop back down to 28 or something but for now - THANK YOU! I'm extremely happy you like my story enough to follow it. Now buckle up we're not even halfway through cheers, welcome, and I sincerely hope you enjoy! This chapter is pretty short, but longer stuff is being served up very quickly!

 **OKAY**

She looked down at her bloody hands and wrists, a mess of red and throbbing, but she knew his fingers had been there, had just been there, wrapped around hers and pulling, pulling with her even as she had pulled against him as she swung at the mirror and -

Had she let go?

 _(Of course I did I was hitting the glass with… With both hands, I was in pain and -)_

She careened into the water as it poured out, fighting, _where are you where are you and of course you're lost in a sea of shiny and glitter, where are you, I won I beat it don't go don't go come back -)_

Sarah stumbled, then sank, plunging bloody numb hands through the water, reaching, searching - _(it was here, he had to be here, he had to be, they couldn't have - they couldn't have I won I won they didn't win I figured it out I know these rules - please please please I win the hero wins and the hero saves the victim so where -)_

Something was soft and silky and she screamed, pulling back and then plunged in again just as fast. She heaved, pulling up smooth, silver hair, and a head.

She completely fell into the water under his weight, struggling to pull his torso above, feeling for a pulse.

 _(Does he have a pulse? Do elves have pulses!? Shit! Is he breathing? Are my fingers on the right vein? I can't feel a pulse! I can barely feel anything! I can't even see! Goddamnit!)_

Her blood ran onto his soaking clothes, steaming down him with the water as she clumsily shoved him towards the opening. She fell a few times, her bloody fingers struggling to keep hold, trying flip him right-side-up so that his cape would hit any remaining shards as she dragged him into the bright grey light. The water continued out through the mirror into the world. There was the cloudy sky, the green hills, and a wide stream, but the current wasn't strong and she rolled him onto the pebble-filled bank, falling next to him. She felt like fainting.

 _(Not now, you useless idiot. Get up. You lost him, you let him go, now you're going to save him, you hear me?)_

She forced herself up. "Pulse… Pulse, where is your pulse, motherfucker…" She held her breath, praying her own useless heart would stop beating so she could hear his - "Do elves have heartbeats!? Goddamnit!" She pressed an ear to his chest. "Please… Please come on…"

 _(I don't know magic and I barely remember cpr. Shit. Ok. You prop open their mouth, and hit the chest hard enough usually to break the bone, so -)_

She moved him into position awkwardly, her blood trailing across his face. She tried to mash her hands into a fist-shape, her knuckles dripping and sticky and starting to lose feeling.

 _(CPR. Get them into position, and then -)_ And then you had to break the sternum for CPR, you had to hit hard. Assuming elves had a sternum to break.

 _(I just punched through a mirror. This should be a piece of cake -)_

 _(Slight bit of difference between an elf king and an evil mirror, just saying -)_

 _(Shut it.)_

Sarah raised her hands high above her head. "Ok - one… Two… Three…"

He opened his eyes just as her arms came down with all the strength she had left. Her hands landed with an odd squelch, fresh pain spiking through them just as he coughed up water, most of which landed on her.

" _Aurgh!"_ She shook out her throbbing arms, blood and Goblin King spit flying off her fingers. " _Shit!"_

He rolled to the side, opening his mouth, hacking up dark water. She bit down hard on her lip, on her scream of pain as he coughed, wheezed, and then eventually stopped.

"Where are we?" He'd propped himself on his elbows, looking up interestedly, like a bemused and sodden dandelion.

She turned to him, wordless, cradling her red-drenched arms.

"What have you done!?" He sat up fast, grabbing her wrists as she yelped. "Every time!"

"OW!" She glared at him, fighting back tears. "That _HURTS!"_

"Why do I bother _healing_ you if this is -"

"Why do _I_ bother _saving_ you if all you do is _yell_ at me!?" Her voice broke slightly.

Silence crackled between them, then faltered as she wheezed in pain. He stared angrily at her, and she tried to reciprocate his intensity, but she could feel it caving into a wince, warmth trickling between her fingers.

"Come here." He sighed, releasing her wrists to grab her hands.

" _OW! S_ top grabbing me! I'm fin-" His look cut her off. "Alright, I'm not fine, but -"

"Silence." He flipped her hands over, palms up, ignoring her yelp.

"I just need to pull the glass out and - and bandage it, and - _agh -_ "

"Perhaps," He snapped, "The reason you keep injuring yourself is because you insist on pushing forward at every turn."

"Perhaps it's because you're - _ow ow ow!"_ He pulled large shards of mirror from her palm, still glittering in the sun. "Ok. Ok!" She wheezed, trying to sound positive. "Thank you. Just - keep getting those out, and I'll be -"

He grumbled something under his breath that was unintelligible, plucking bits from her hands and knuckles. She looked up at the cloudy sky above them as he weeded shards out, trying not to cry and fighting back the welling tears. He stopped finally and she looked down, hands still red but she lifted them, flexing -

He grabbed her wrists, stopping her. " _Don't. Move."_ He growled. "I'm not _done_ yet."

 _(What are you gonna do about it? Hurt me more? Pull out my shoulder again?)_

But she decided against voicing these thoughts, concentrating instead on not making any more whimpers as he stretched out her hands. "Don't - heal it! Save your - magic - control - energy - whatever. We might need it later."

"We might also need your _hands_ later." He didn't even look at her, rotating her wrists, checking for mobility.

"I, I know, but - what if I break my leg? We'll need magic for that, definitely. This? I don't think it's… So bad. Slap a bandaid on it. Call it a day." She tried to wave her hand casually, which came out more of a limp twitch, but at least it was movement.

There was a much longer incoherent grumbling noise as he grabbed her wrist back, but this time she was sure the word "human" was in it. Finally he sighed, begrudgingly. "As much as it pains me to concede, we may in fact have to preserve "my magic" as you so eloquently put it. So, let's wash this in the river and _then_ we can… Bandage it."

"Do you enjoy using longer words than me? Or is that just an elf thing?"

He ignored her, moving them on the edge of the bank, sitting beside her and pushing her hands into the cold. She let him, watching the blood trickle out in the water, enjoying the chilling temperature, and -

\- he moved his hands against her's, long fingers gently intertwining with her own, flexing them against his as he tested the tension.

 _(His hands aren't soft.)_ She thought suddenly.

 _(Well, what'd you expect?)_

 _(He's a king, and his skin looks so smooth. I expected - soft hands.)_

 _(They're not covered in calluses or anything, you idiot.)_

 _(I realize that, thank you, I just mean - they're very firm.)_

 _(It helps that he's being gentle.)_

She stared at the water, lost in thought, and suddenly realized what she was seeing.

 _(I'm holding hands with him.)_

No, that's not what it was. She - wasn't -

 _(No, that's not what's happening here! He's - he's helping. Let him help. You punched through a mirror for him, he can help you a little, can't he?)_

 _(I mean… I didn't punch through the mirror_ for _him, I punched through the mirror to get_ out. _)_

 _(That's right, you only panicked when you couldn't find him afterwards.)_

 _(I would've panicked for anyone! I would've punched the mirror for anyone! Hoggle! Didymus! Probably even a goblin!)_

 _(- Even a man who kidnapped your brother once upon a time?)_

She looked sideway at him. _(He's… Not the same though. Or I'm not the same. Or -)_

 _(I mean, I never really_ hated _him, not like… Not hate, hate. I would've helped him even - even back then if he'd… Needed it. I think. Yeah, I never really… I don't think I ever really hated him.)_

"How exactly did you achieve this?"

"Hate. What!?" _(Fuck.)_ She started. Had he read her mind? Could he - could he hear her thoughts? No, he said he couldn't do that. Unless he'd been lying. But -

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Earlier you said you did this," He nodded towards her hands. "Saving me."

"Uh…" _(Earlier? When earlier?)_ When she'd thought it? Or - "Oh! You mean… When you woke up. Yes. Did I say that? Ok. Um. The mirrors were attacking us -"

"I remember that." His second eyebrow joined the first.

"Yes, I - just let me finish! They grabbed you, and you let go of me, and I went towards the mirror you'd been trying to head to -"

"The next exit."

"There wasn't - there wasn't an exit there, though. Not a physical -"

"Yes there was -"

"LISTENING. It means shut up and let the human explain things!" She squinted at him, daring him to speak. "There was a solid mirror there. I felt it."

"Perhaps the exit _was_ the mirror -"

"Yeah, the exit was _through the mirror, because it was solid._ You felt it! Before you - got jumped. Which, by the way, illusion spell my ass! What the fuck were those things?!" She glared.

"A very vicious spell, it would appear."

"That was _not_ a spell."

He laughed, condescendingly. "You don't know what -"

"Actually, I do! I do, because I got us out of there, ok? I got us out cause I - I handled it logically! I remembered - there's a thing about mirrors, in some legends - if they face each other, they can create portals, and so - so I thought - maybe our reflections - or spell, or whatever it was - was getting free because of that. Like a - creating a portal. And," She hesitated, seeing his bemused expression. "Now that I'm hearing it out loud, I'm starting to doubt that theory, but… It made sense at the time."

"It's… Possible." He stared at her hard, still smiling slightly. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"It…" His expression, combined with his fingers still entwined with hers, was making her feel - warm. And uncomfortable. "It was in some stuff I read."

"You… Read a lot."

"Yeah, that's what I did when I -" _(Was alone. For months. By myself. When you -)_ She stiffened, hesitating again, his eyes regarding her. _(I don't want to… Bring that up. Again. I don't want to yell at him, or vice versa.)_ "… I wanted to." She finished lamely. "… And so I thought if it was trying to distract me, maybe it was hiding the exit, and - I - I broke the glass."

"With your hands."

"It was the only idea I had! We obviously weren't - doing well. With the Labyrinth or the - weird - reflections. I had to - do something."

He sniffed. "Indeed. I just would find it _preferable_ if you weren't damaging yourself every chance you got."

She rolled her eyes. "You're welcome."

He smirked, staring at her, unblinking. "Thank you."

 _(What?)_

"We need a bandage." He finally let go of her hands and waited.

She continued to stare until she realized he meant her. "OH! Right. Can you -" She gestured at her bag and he unzipped it. Sarah clumsily used her elbows, knocking objects aside. _(Thimbles, peach, candy bar, string, thread, there.)_ "That pocket. In there. See it?"

He pulled out a small bag of brightly colored bandaids, and then looked at her in contempt.

"What?" She stared back. _(What did_ I _do?)_

He gestured to her hand. "Those slips of paper will not bandage your _appendages._ "

"Uhhhhh…." He had a point, but that was all she had. She turned back to the bag. _(Did I miss something we could use?)_ She looked up when she heard a ripping noise. "What are you -"

He'd torn a sleeve off his billowing shirt, ripping it into shreds.

"Oh - you didn't have to -" It was too late to stop him, but she felt like this was overkill.

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? Do you have something we could have used instead? Perhaps there's more layers to your tunic than I can see?" He dragged his eyes down her body.

"I -" It wasn't a revealing outfit, but Sarah felt suddenly exposed. He smirked as the blush returned to her cheeks in full force. _(This outfit is not - you - he - oh my god.)_ "There's - this is - _I wasn't dressed for mushrooms and evil mirrors!_ I was barely dressed for goblins! Last time I did this in moccasins! You're lucky I wore boots! I mean, I'm lucky I - you're - shut up either way!"

Her current outfit was bellbottoms and a blouse that had long sleeves. It was sewn in a way that made them loose are some points and tight at others, and she'd bought it because at the time it had reminded her of a renaissance gown. It wasn't hugging her exactly, but it wasn't hiding her body either. But either way it didn't really matter because right now she wished she were wearing an oversized teeshirt. Or mascot uniform. Or literally anything else.

"I thought not."

Great. Now he was chuckling. Sarah looked heavenwards and begged anyone listening for strength. He fished her hands out of the water.

"Hey!" She looked at them, then at him, squinting. "I told you not to heal me!"

"I didn't."

Her hands, still cut, were no longer bleeding, the gashes now thin white stripes in her knuckles and wrists. They felt a little numb, but she could flex. _(I feel like they're not as deep, either.)_ "Liar. Now you're going to run out of mag-"

"It was… The water." He began bandaging her.

"The water?" She frowned at him. "What, it's a magical stream now too? That doesn't make sense. You almost drowned back there."

"But I didn't. It must have healing properties."

 _(Liar, liar lair.)_ "Riiight. Sure. Totally. Just don't blame me when you run out of magic, but my hands are fine." Sarah waited, but he didn't respond. She sighed. "Thank you." _(You lying idiot.)_

"I didn't heal you." He replied, as if he could hear her thoughts.

 _(But you probably cast a spell or something on the river, so that the water could, right? I know these magic loopholes, Owlbrain.)_ She shook her head. _(Whatever. It had to be him. He doesn't have enough energy to heal me entirely, I've still got the gashes, but at least they're not bleeding.)_

He hummed while he bandaged, finishing with a tight knot. "Flex?"

She couldn't really. Her hands were fully tied, looking like a mittens. He nodded, satisfied, pulling her to her feet. "I don't suppose you'd consider being carried."

"No. What are we going to do about -" She gestured to his open arm. He shrugged.

"I prefer it. I often go tunic-less around the goblins. They didn't seem to mind."

 _(Tunic-less? Oh. He means shirtless. Of course. Of course the man wearing a blouse with cleavage cut to his navel doesn't bother wear a shirt around goblins "sometimes". Christ. This guy.)_ Sarah shook her head as he took her arm, wincing as he bent it towards him. "Wait -"

"What did you - what now?" His brows folded, eyes scanning her face. "You're pale. Paler than you were."

"Um - one more thing I might have forgotten to mention -" She grimaced. "Besides my hand - remember when you saved me from being dragged into the ceiling? You pulled on my arm?"

He nodded, slowly. "You… Screamed. I remember."

"Right, well - my shoulder got hurt a little when that happened. It's fine, I - fix - reversed it -" _(In the most painful way possible -)_ "But I kind of need to - switch arms for a bit. Can I go to the other side?" She started crossing over, but he held out a hand, stopping her.

"Did I… Hurt you? When I - pulled you back?"

His face was - guarded. Trying to read hers. Studying it for signs of - pain? Betrayal? Concern?

"What? No! Well. I mean. Yes, but then you - I - fixed it. It's fine. I'm fine. See?" She gingerly rotated it, trying and failing not to grimace more. "Tah daaa _ugu-augh_. Ow. Alright. Not ready to do that yet. But it's getting better."

"I - didn't mean -"

 _(No…)_ She stared at him, as he frowned fiercely at her shoulder. _(Not concern. He's… Sorry. He's_ really _sorry. He didn't mean to hurt me, and now he feels - bad? He does, doesn't he? He didn't mean to, and he feels bad. It was an accident.)_

The thought made her laugh in awkward confusion and surprise. "I - it's _fine!_ I just need to switch to arms for a bit."

"Again, I think carrying -"

"I'm _O.K. Really._ You're forgiven, but we're not doing that, alright?"

"Humans." He sighed.

"Yep." She looked around, avoiding his accusatory stare. A glance behind her revealed nothing but the shattered mirror in the middle of a river. A river surrounded by green rolling hills. "Also - where… Where are we? Where's the path?"

He stepped back into the stream.

"This again? Fine." She splashed in with him. "Let's go." _(Follow the wet soggy not-yellow brick road.)_

He held out his arm, his bare arm, because naturally that was the sleeve he'd torn. _(Naturally.)_ She rolled her eyes but let him guide her into place. His skin was warm against hers and they moved forward under the cloudy sky, splashing as they walked. The banks rose up high on either side as they continued.

"So…" Sarah ventured. "Where'd you learn how to bandage?"

"The goblins are quite fond of getting hurt and tangled in anything available. I have seen many variations of "bandages" in my time as their leader."

"Well. That's lucky, then."

"Given your "bandaids", lucky indeed."

She rolled her eyes as they rounded the corner and -

"What - what the hell is that!?" She gasped.

A monumental grey _mass_ rose in front of them, like a spherical mountain. It was that exactly, a sphere, made of stones and reaching into the sky, like a colossal tower. Sarah stared.

"That's the next part, I'd say." He stepped forward.

"What - what do you -"

He pointed. Sure enough, there was a thin crack in the side, a cave-like entrance.

"We're going _in that thing?_ "

He nodded, leading her forward.


	15. Ebb and Flow

I talked a bit about the Labyrinth but if you can't tell, Jareth's kind of avoiding her questions about it. I didn't want to go into his backstory; there's lots of theories out there but I like the fact that it's kind of vague, too, so it's both. I let him keep his secrets! Sarah's prying shall have to wait for another day ;) in the future ;) WHEN SHE CAN USE HER GIRLFRIEND/QUEEN STATUS TO DEMAND ANSWERS ;;;;)))) (aka not quite in this story yet sorry) BUT: 30 followers! And then some! Welcome all! My eyebrows are trying to meet my hairline in a happy-yet-suprised expression! This is AMAZING! THANK YOU.

 **Ebb and Flow**

"What is - what is it!?" Heading into a tower wasn't as bad as an endless passage of mirrors perhaps, but -

 _(But dark towers in stories don't really have a great reputation either.)_

"We shall soon find out, I believe."

It was just so _large._ And _dark._

"But -" She tried again.

"We survived the mirrors and the mushrooms. We shall overcome whatever obstacles this presents as well."

"We? WE!? Last time, _your_ plan of "ignore the reflections" almost got _us_ killed! And in the mushroo-"

"And yet, here we are. Alive. Besides," He continued as they drew closer. "I had no doubt that you would find a way."

" _Me?_ " She shot him a suspicious look. "You seem to be putting an awful lot of trust into a _human_ suddenly."

"You are…" He turned to her, regarding with his opposing eyes. Sarah looked away, suddenly self-conscious. "An oddity."

"Uh… Huh. K." She frowned into the water. _(You're not exactly what I'd call normal either, pal.)_

"It isn't every day that a someone forces their way back Underground. Especially willingly."

"Well, I…" _(What? Where's the rest of that sentence going? Well, I… Missed this? The goblins? Almost dying repeatedly? Getting stuck in the same area for hours?_ Him? _No, no, definitely not him. Just - just take the compliment.)_ "… Thanks." _(I think.)_ She snuck a sideways glance at him. He inclined his head just slightly. _(Yeah, I'll take that as a compliment. I doubt he's said that to many humans. At all. If ever.)_

Sarah smiled quietly, just a little.

They were at the entrance. Well, at the crack, a rough opening between stones, as the water trickled through it. He peered inside, then back at her.

"The current is stronger."

 _(A current inside a… A cave? A tower? Ok. That's - new.)_

 _(As opposed to what? Water going into an impossible mirror?)_ She drew in a shallow breath. _(If mirrors came to life then what's a dark cave-tower going to have? Balrog? Spiders? A -)_

"Ready?"

She blinked up at him, startled. "Me?"

He glanced around, mockingly.

 _(Was that sarcasm? Did he just pretend to look for other people? Did he - wait, just answer.)_ "Yes! Yeah. Ready. Sure." _(Weirdo.)_

He guided her through.

Sarah stepped in, crouching with him as they walked through a small, dark and uneven rocky tunnel. There was light at the end, and as they reached it, she looked up - it wasn't a cave; it opened horizontally into a giant stone passage. About 9 feet across, the water now rushing through it in a stream. The top was exposed, a bright grey light trickling down from far away. The walls were a curving line, stones and water and she continued staring, the _height_ of it dizzying her, it was so far away, and - the current tugged at her legs. It _was_ stronger in here, not terrible, but faster. She had to wade against it as it sloshed around her knees, using him to steady herself.

He pulled her down the passage, going with the flow, and it made a small rushing noise all around them like the wind. The stones were covered in algae, slime running up the walls until it tapered off into a green gradient.

 _(At least it's not freezing cold.)_

The stream ran gently around her shins and knees as she sloshed forward. There was a sharp corner at the end, and they turned it, leading into another curving stone passage.

 _(This is like being in… A dungeon? A watery dungeon? An open tunnel? Something like that.)_ She decided. _(Whatever. As long as no weirdass creatures attack us, I'm good.)_

There was another opening, and Sarah stared, frowning. It wasn't some crack in the rocks, it was a slit, one that reached all the way to the top, a straight line that stretched upwards. He led her through it and she squinted as they moved, the water tugging her.

 _(What's that about? A slit opening, walls that curve but with corners straight enough to create angles? And the passages are a lot longer than any of the other ones. It's like walking down open tunnels. So what's the deal with this one? Let's say…)_ She let her mind wander. _(Let's say it's a tower, an… Open tower. From above. I mean… That's what it looked like from when we were on the outside and I have no idea what it could be from the inside. So…_ _Tower of Babylon? Rapunzel? How many other towers are there in stories? And towers that deal with water?)_

They reached a short dead end, the water whirlpooling as it and he turned them back, retracing their steps again to pass the entrance.

 _(I mean… I guess this one isn't that bad, except for the darkness and the wet part. The algae is kind of gross, but all in all, not terrible - nothing's attacking us.)_

 _(Which is exactly what I'd think if I was about to be attacked -)_ She twisted around, but there was nothing.

"What?" He raised his eyebrows at her sudden movement.

"Uh, nothing. Just checking."

"I would tell you if -"

"Well, ok, but we didn't know about the mirror things until - you know." A thought occurred to her. "Why - wait a minute. Why didn't you use your magic back there? Back with - with them? I mean - I know you only have a little, but they were about to - I don't know, _kill_ you or possess you or whatever it was they wanted to do."

"I don't think they would have managed. I'm quite resilient, if you hadn't noticed." He shook his head, hair rippling.

She saw the expression on his features and rolled her eyes. Haughty. Proud. Regal. "Yeah, I wasn't really getting that when you got jumped by 50 of them." _(Try holding that face as you're being submerged by your own reflection again, buddy.)_

"I didn't drown, though. I doubt they would have been able to inflict any serious harm."

She held up her hand, shaking her own head. "Nevermind. It was just a question." _(I was just curious. And trying to make conversation. Not sure why I bothered.)_

"However… I do admit to…" He paused as they waded forward. "… Being a bit distracted and tired. So… Defense… Was not the first thought that occurred to me as we ran. I was more… Concentrated in getting us out."

 _(Tired? Distracted? Him?)_ She squinted up, trying to look at his face, _really_ look, but his hair was hiding it in a curtain again, and he was so tall -

She brushed back his hair, throwing it over his shoulder, fingers accidentally grazing him as she did. There. Maybe it was the light, but - he looked… Not bad, just… Tired. Sick, maybe, was more accurate - he twitched, startled, glancing down at her.

 _(Shit. I should've asked before I touched his hair. Probably. Well, he's been picking me up and carrying me everywhere without asking! So - I get to - to try to help him too.)_ She met his eyes accusingly. "Do you need to rest? Should we stop? You look…" _(Still like a etherial elf, but…)_ "… Tired."

He chuckled, relaxing. "No. Rest will not give me the energy I require. I need back the - the power. The power of it."

"It?"

"The Labyrinth."

 _(Oh.)_

"Hey…" She began, not knowing how to phrase it. "How… How can I have been the only one… Who…"

He said nothing. The spiraling twist of the walls continued slowly, water pushing on their heels. She tried again.

"How am I the only one who ever beat the Labyrinth? Like… How has this not happened before?"

He shrugged. "And yet, here we are."

"But… Like… How - what happened to everyone else? Did you just… Keep the kids?"

He shrugged again. "Sometimes."

"What does that mean?" _(Did he really turn them all into goblins? Is that who he is? The big scary monster at night? Watch your children and tuck them in, or the Goblin King will come and get them?)_

"I don't always _take children._ The goblins… Seek those with a want. Especially those with a child. And I am… The answer. I grant _wishes._ Strong, passionate, desperate wishes. I have a talent for… Helping others."

 _"Helping -_ how was taking Toby helping!?"

He grinned at her, teeth gleaming despite the gloom. "If, perhaps, the carer isn't fit to take charge of him…"

"I was perfectly -" She began, then stopped. (' _I have a talent for helping others… If the carer isn't fit to take charge of them… ')_ "I was _perfectly_ fine to take care of Toby." She sniffed. "But… So… You grant _wishes?_ And you… No, the goblins - especially look out for children?"

"… Yes. No. Sometimes."

"What? Why?"

"Well, it depends."

"On what!?" _(He doesn't want to answer this question, does he?)_

 _(Are you sure you want to know? What if he is turning all the children into goblins, Sarah? What then? Who are you dealing with?)_

They reached another sky-bound entrance, and he led them in. The passage divided into two arching directions, stretching beyond eyesight on either side. He chose left, his voice dropping in tone until it was a low crawl of a growl. "What if I told you that I need children. I need them because I contort all of them into creeping goblins for the rest of their eternal lives, doomed to stay with me, forgetting all they once knew in a world that was worlds away?"

She stared at him. His face was hidden in shadow again, but his eyes met hers sideways, dark and light, a dare and a warning all at once. Question for question.

 _(I'm on the path but how far do I want to go down is the real query.)_ She blinked. _(But - what's with the voice? Is he trying to scare me? Ok, fine. I don't - fine, but something doesn't fit here.)_ "Well… That's… Why?"

"Hm?"

"But like… Why would you bother? Don't goblins - aren't there already enough? So why would you -"

"I can always add more to my army." His voice was back to its normal level, clipping and light.

"An army? But you're not fighting anyone. Unless they get deep enough into the Labyrinth, which you said doesn't really happen. So why -"

He sighed. "Humans and their _logic._ It's not about why. It's about whether or not they deserve the child _back._ "

"What does that mean? Who makes you the judge of that?"

He huffed impatiently. "Does the person wishing understand the steaks and the cost they've bargained? Will they truly fight to win back that which they have lost? There are many components."

"So what happens if they - if they don't?"

"They pay the price."

"That's not my question." Sarah watched him carefully. "What happens… If they wished away a child? What happens to _them?_ "

 _(What happens if I'd… If I hadn't… If I didn't win?)_

" _If_ they've wished away a child to the goblins… And they fail… Then… That child, baby, whoever, can decide. They can remain human. They can join us and become a goblin. Babies rather enjoy that option, I've found. They also, I don't know, go out and adventure. Sometimes they go back to the human world, in a different home, in a different place. I don't really care. They bore me, after a time. They cry an obscene amount. And they have a talent for attracting… Stickiness. I have more fun watching humans run about, getting lost, falling into obvious traps."

"So… You do let them - the children - go."

He lifted his head proudly. "I do as I, a king, see fit."

Sarah shook her head, letting the small smile creep back onto her face. _(Always gotta answer things in a riddle, Mr. Elf-Magic-Goblin-King.)_ "So… You're not a terrible person." She muttered quietly.

 _(I knew it.)_

He sighed. " _You_ have a _terrible_ way of speaking to a king, peasant."

 _(Peasant?)_ Somehow when he said the word it sounded worse than 'human'. She would've kicked him if it'd done anything. "So…" She ventured one more time. "What would've happened to Toby, if I'd lost?"

"Ah." The corner of his mouth twitched, but it didn't quite meet his eyes. "Well, I imagine we'd be having a very different conversation right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Some people like to bargain, when they lose. You might have offered, for example, your life for his."

 _(That - yes, I'd like to think I would've.)_

He sighed. "But you might not have, too. And what would I have done even if you had? Kept you here, against your will? A prisoner?" His voice was quiet. "That would not have suited either of us."

Sarah's smile arched into a grin. "You wouldn't have turned me into a goblin?"

"Yes. I would have."

She tilted her head in the darkness. "Would I be a scaly or furry one? I think I'm more scaly."

"Wh- _you -_ as a -?" He paused, then chuckled incredulously. "Ah, that's - yes, I can see it now, a rebel queen, marching around with perhaps a - battle axe, ordering about chickens and yelling 'That's not fair!' at anything that got in your way. No doubt planning another mutinous siege, trying to get me to release you. Yes, a perfect happy ending."

"Ah, so I'd rise to overthrow you and become the queen of the goblins, eh? I'd win them all over?"

"That's the part you heard? Perhaps." He returned her grin slightly.

"You said I could. You said it, which means it's possible, right? So all I'd have to do is… Create a mutiny, and an army, overthrow you - banish you away to… An Oubliette - no! The Bog of Stench!" She glanced at him, laughing. He was hard to figure out, irritable and proud one moment, teasing and weird the next, but he wasn't horrible when he smiled. Laughed. Acted… Human. Or at least - not evil.

"If that is what you truly wished, then yes."

His tone had changed again, now it was… Darker. Not angry, but - had she said something wrong? No, that wasn't it. They'd been doing fine, laughing, having… Fun Maybe not, but whatever it was, he'd changed again, without her… His expression was a mask, but more than that his eyes were now far away…

 _(Is he remembering something? About what? What had he said? If that is what you truly wished…)_

Sarah sighed inwardly, staring back at the water. She couldn't keep up with him.

 _(No, that's not it either. It's not that I can't keep up, it's that he won't let me in. Which - that's fine. I don't need to be butting into his head. Or him in mine. I just - I wanted -)_

What? What could she possibly have wanted from him? They were having a conversation, that was it. Her and the Goblin King, trying to fix a Labyrinth that was trying to kill them. He needed to focus on the path and she needed to focus on not dying and that was the end of the story. Happily ever after. Complete the quest, save the world, be home in time for dinner.

 _(So don't try to get all personal with him, Sarah. Don't go down_ that _path.)_

She was still lost in thought as they turned right, and she gasped suddenly as the water rose up to her thigh. The current was even quicker here, and now they were going against it. He tightened his grip on her arm. The sound was more than a gurgle, it was a rushing _'swoosh'_ , pulling at them. The undertow wasn't impossible to walk against, but there was resistance even in standing, and she could feel the slipperiness of the algae-covered stones under her feet. She snuck a look at him, but he seemed to be doing fine, even with a long cloak dragging against his neck.

 _(Well, the water's only just above his knees, the long-legged freak. Why can't he be short like -)_

She stumbled on a rock and resolved to just look down and mentally shut up.

They continued down the tunnel for quite a ways, and eventually reached a dead end. Sarah groaned inwardly. They doubled back, treading forward, finally reaching the opening and turning right.

 _(At least I'm going_ with _the current now.)_

But it was pulling her forward, and now he was holding her back. She grit her teeth.

 _(What happens when it gets too strong? Are we going to swim? Is he going to have to carry me?)_

 _(What happens if you stop worrying and pay attention instead of spacing out?)_

They reached an entrance, and he pushed past it, unworried. The passage turned a corner, and the water went up to her navel. She cringed; it wasn't horribly cold, but it was uncomfortable as it tugged and pushed at her. He stopped, glancing down.

 _(How did he notice that? I didn't even say anything.)_ "I'm fine, I can handle it. Besides, it feels good on my hand." She splashed the water carefully. It was getting quite hard to wade forward, but at least they were both struggling a bit, his steps not unsteady, but slowed down, which made it slightly easier for her to keep pace with.

 _(You might have superhuman strength, Goblin King, but water is still a solid mass, and it's harder to move through, isn't it. Even for you.)_

She let him pull her forward slightly. The passage offered another entrance, this time on the left, and he took it. She braced herself for another drop in depth, but it didn't happen.

They plodded along in their own silences, the water a loud gurgling purr beside them. She wanted to ask more questions, wanted to think out loud, but -

 _(But I need to concentrate on not getting swallowed up by the current, not conversation._ _Still,)_ she wondered, _(What is this place? Is it from something? It's… Too weird to be stock-fairy-tale-footage, even by his standard. His had rocks and glitter and bogs and forests but at least… They all kind of fit together, thematically. This one has… Books. Which were fairy tales. The mirrors weren't from anything, but that stuff about mirror worlds and evil reflections is in a lot of folk lore… Same with the mushrooms, and I still think that orchard was some kind of Aladdin thing…)_

 _(So what was a legend about a dark rushing river? Entombed in stone? Niobe? No, but… I mean, I'm pretty sure it's not a tower anymore… This is definitely more about the water. Right? It's getting deeper. Are we going to sink?… A magical stoney river… What do river symbolize? What famous rivers are there? Huckleberry Fi-)_

They turned a corner and water was two feet deeper. The current didn't tug or push, it _surged,_ her knees buckling out from under her suddenly, shoving her forward, arms flailing. She didn't have time to yell, didn't have time to grab, she was just _gone._

Water. Darkness. Cold. Everywhere, around her on all sides, the air shooting out from her lungs along with her warmth. The current was stronger than her - _much stronger_ \- and she was being dragged downstream, her hair and bag wrapping around her face and neck. She was tumbling around - her feet found the floor and she pushed up, breaking the surface and crashing into a wall, gasping one painful breath before she spun around again, and was pulled back under. Sarah's mind scrambled - but she didn't need to think, her body was already screaming orders -

 _(Air - I need air - get up -_ _which way is up -)_

Her hands reached out, latching onto something, anything - she grabbed rock and held on, a corner, a stone, she didn't know but the water ripped her off, sending her arms spinning out and away. The river picked up speed and she crashed into another wall, the one gulp of air she'd managed to get knocked out of her before she was pulled back under. She struggled, against it, then with it, just trying to do _something_ , get somewhere - _(to breathe -) s_ he pushed up again, blindly.

She collided with rock, but at least it was solid and she forced her way, trying to get air, and broke surface, treading as best she could, her bag pulling her along. She was still rushing but at least now she could see - could see what? Dark blurs. She blinked, her vision a haze of wetness, and hit a corner, yelping, bright pain sparking under her clouded eyesight. The current just heaved forward, endless, it was forever and she was caught, she was scraping walls, her sight a rush of water, dark water and dark walls and -

 _(I'm going to die. I'm going to get thrown into stone and get knocked against it, lose consciousness and drown. Come on Williams. Beat this.)_

She spun, twisting, trying to keep some sort of direction besides up, and saw a flash of slightly less dark grey - an opening, it had to be, a square slit in the rock but -

 _(Shit.)_

It was far - so far - Sarah launched, shoving her way into the center, trying to get from one side of the wall to the next. Her heart was pounding, begging, screaming for air, a steady supply, not gasps, she needed to _breathe_ \- she paddled, bag tugging at her to give up, she was staying in one spot, she was dead in the water, she was trapped in the middle of the current and she wasn't going to push past it, she was moving away from the opening -

 _(no!)_

\- her fingertips brushed rock and she latched, her legs sweeping her around. Her fingers were stiff but she slammed her hand into the stone, hanging on as the water pounded against her and her head went under -

 _(It's not going to work - I'm too weak -)_

 _(Fuck your weakness, fuck this Labyrinth, and fuck - this - water -)_

Sarah didn't have air for a scream but she grit her teeth, throwing her elbow into the opening, onto its 90 degree surface, fingers scrabbling. She pulled, using her good shoulder, pulled herself and pushed against the current, she had one elbow around the corner, her lungs were on fire, she thrashed, trying to move her last elbow into place, but it was her bad shoulder now, and it was weak, far too weak, and her lungs were burning; the muscles quivered against the current and then gave up, her shoulder was shoved back into place beside her.

 _(No. No! Come on!)_

Her good arm was getting tired now too. She tried again, her using her hand, wriggling, pushing against the unrelenting water with muscles that weren't there and she closed her eyes, waiting for the pop of her socket, waiting for it to all fail, for the air in her lungs to expire with her strength, she was reaching, reaching, pushing -

Her elbow hit the corner and Sarah clung, drawling herself up, kicking uselessly, using her arms to pull herself into the opening. Her hands were being crushed by the water but she was crawling, fingers wrapped all the way around, then her wrists, her elbows, chest - she grit her teeth and heaved, pulling, arms, legs, there - _(stand, damnit, stand, get up, get up -)_

Her legs throbbed but she pushed, with the nothing she had left - up, up, scraping stone against the thin wall of the gap, but she had _air._ Sarah gasped, standing, inhaling as much water as she did air, the current still pushing against her. Her vision blackened at the edges but she was breathing, she was inhaling, air, air and water but air, choking it down, gulping at it, inhaling faster then she exhaled, coughing it back up with the liquid she'd gained. She stayed that way, heart pounding and aching, every breath a painful reminder that she was alive.

After a dizzying amount of time, she raised her painful arms, shoving hair out of her face and eyes. The water was up to her shoulders, almost at her neck, which meant… She was further in than him. Deeper in whatever this place was.

And alone.


	16. Concentrick

A/N: I realize this is another time Sarah has gotten "lost" from Jareth - call it a theme if you want. It's a metaphor! I'm allowed to repeat it! A LOT! Hahahha right!? *ignores various stares from ghosts-of-english-teachers-who-aren't-dead-it's-a Dickens-reference-of-my-past* (speaking of Dickens this A/N got a bit running-on OH WELL) Thanks to everyone who posted reviews! My computer issues DID get sorted - but somehow I only JUST got back into my email now! I've been posting randomly without being able to check any real updates and I finally did! I love ya kind words - reading them makes me smile! Thank you and thanks for sticking with! NOW ONWARD.

... (((((Super secret A/N bc I'm *that* self-centered writer: Google Concentric if you're wondering why the title was named thus. That's the shape of the maze they're in, from above. I just decided to add in the extra 'k' cause that made it a double pun, which usually I hate but sometimes when it's in titles and stuff I love. I have a bazillion little easter eggs but I'm not sure people will a) find them interesting and b) maybe they're noticing them already. But I won't usually add footnotes for them unless the title or something in the story doesn't make that much sense!)))))  


 **Concentrick**

 _(Where is he?)_

 _(Gone.)_

 _(Shit. Fuck. No.)_

 _(Yes, Sarah. Yes, ok? Ok. So now what?)_

 _(I have to find him. I have to go back.)_

 _(You gonna walk upstream? Do you even remember the way you came?)_

 _(Maybe I will. Maybe I'll stick to the walls and corners and I'll just walk back the way I -_

 _The way I -_

 _Oh god.)_

 _(I'm lost.)_

It wasn't really possible for Sarah to be more out of breath or for her heart to beat faster, but she suddenly felt both.

"Hello?" She ventured.

The feeling of stupidity washed over her as soon as she said it. There was no way he would hear that, even with super ears. Her throat and lungs hurt from the lack of air and excess amount of water, her voice a weak scrap rushing away in the stream and even if she'd been an opera singer it would've been lost in the river, which was now a roar.

She wasn't just lost, she was trapped. The flow was pinning her against the crack of entrance, and even if it hadn't been that deep, there was no way she'd be able to handle the current - _he_ hadn't even been able to handle it, it had yanked her away from him so fast.

 _(Oh god.)_

 _(It's ok, Sarah, it's ok.)_

 _(It is NOT ok! It is so far beyond ok!)_

 _(Is he safe!? What if he got dragged by the current?)_

 _(I think he'll be fine - he said he was hard to kill, and really he didn't seem_ too _bad after those mirror things -)_

 _(Those "mirror things" pinned him down and he was underwater for a few minutes. This current can slam him into a wall, knock out his breath and his brains, and - and -)_

 _(Well, that's not going to happen. Ok? He's not going to -)_

 _(Jesus. How am I going to find him? I can't move. I don't know where to go. I can't even physically remember how I got here. Shit. Shit -)_

 _(Is he trying to find me?)_

 _(Of course he - you're the only way he can -)_

 _(Why would he)_

 _(No, he's going to -)_

 _(Why would he bother. I'm useless. Useless and weak.)_

She felt tears well up in her eyes. _Not now, you idiot._

 _(I can't even hang on to someone without losing them -)_

 _Hey. Asshole. How about we stop crying and try to fix this?_

She hated her second voice. Or third voice. Or whatever this was at this point. But a point it did have. The chances of him finding her in this exact archway-slit-thing - were they better than the chances of her slowly losing strength and getting sucked under the water again? She couldn't wait here forever.

 _(So what's the plan?)_ She tried to think.

She could try to walk backwards, but that would just get her more lost, and she was afraid of moving against the current. She could go forwards, deeper, get even _more_ lost, and hurt herself. She could possibly survive, solve the Labyrinth, and then he would be trapped, alone. She could try to leave some kind of mark on the wall, but the algae made it impossible to write on. Nothing in her bag was dry enough to act as any kind of help, either, and it wasn't like she had a flare gun, and he couldn't see a flare trapped in stones anyways.

 _(_ … _He could use his magic.)_

 _(No. No, he's only supposed to do that in an emergency.)_

 _(I'm sorry, what are we calling this?)_

 _(But - but -)_

He would. He might. She bit her lip.

 _(He might. But he might not. And if he doesn't, then what.)_

 _(He would, if he can't find me.)_

 _(But if he can't use his magic, then what.)_

 _(I don't know!)_

 _(You can't stand here forever and hope he shows up like a knight in shining armor. You've got to save yourself.)_

 _(But what about him!?)_

Sarah felt like she was splitting in half. She was trapped again, waiting, searching. Images of him drowning, her drowning, both of them waiting at the end of a Labyrinth where neither of them would come out…

 _(What do I do?)_

 _(Go on.)_

 _(Stay.)_

This wasn't helping. She closed her eyes, concentrating on breathing. _(Think, Williams.)_

 _(What do I want to do most?)_

 _Find him_ _._

There. That voice. That one. That sounded right.

 _(If he needs my help, I have to go him. I have to. I wouldn't leave Ludo or Hoggle or Didymus behind, and I can't leave him either.)_

If he was in trouble, she would go back and she would find him. Besides, she had a better chance with him then by herself.

 _(But how do I get to him?)_

She peered at the rocks. They looked slippery, but they were the only things to hold on to. Her hands were bandaged, but even with her fingers sticking out of them, she didn't know how much strength she could apply grip with.

 _(Do I have a knife? No. Of course not. Well, it's not like I could ice-pick my way up the wall even if I did.)_

It would have to be her hands, and she _would_ have to go against the rush. She didn't remember how she'd gotten here, but she remembered…

 _(Wait. I went_ with _the current, so - if I want to go back…)_

"I just have to go against it, and I'll find him." She wheezed.

 _(If he hasn't moved._

 _I hope.)_

"Ok, Labyrinth - maze - whatever. I know I beat you once, which I guess - kind of made me… Brake you? Or something where you're… Not listening to him? Maybe I'm a - ruler? I'm not sure. I haven't gotten the chance to ask him. It's - he doesn't volunteer that kind of information very easily and then I feel like an idiot for being clueless which isn't really my fault when -" _(Focus.)_ "Anyways, the point is, you want him back, right? As a king? Well… I can't transfer him the crown without him being _here._ To… Receive it. So… I haven't asked for much, even with everything you've thrown at me so far, but - I _have_ to find him. Please. You have to play by the rules, and the rules are - are -" _(I have no idea what the rules are.)_ "Are that… We have to finish together."

Not the persuasive ending she'd hoped for, but her brain cells weren't at their finest after being drowned on top of everything else she'd survived. She paused, thinking. "Also, he's the only shot I've got of returning power, if that's anything of an incentive." She added, hopefully.

 _(Plus, I'm pretty sure I'll die if I try to do this without him.)_

She looked at the stones, then reached out her right arm, gingerly, and grabbed a rock. Her hand slid off it instantly. Sarah growled and tried again, this time forcefully using her fingers and palm, the algae squelching into the burn through the bandage. Her hand stung, but she held. She lifted the heel of her right food. The water was tugging at it, threatening to sweep it away in an instant, so she scooted it forward, until she felt another stone she could maybe use as a sort of foot jam - she eased her body forward -

Instantly she was shoved back into the gap, breath slammed out of her once again. Sarah glared, panting at the dark glossy surface.

"I don't know what you want, Labyrinth, if the current's a clue, if I'm supposed to follow that or something, but I'm not going until I can find him!"

She tried again, this time using her left hand as a brace. She shoved her food forward.

 _(There.)_

She could move. It was slow. It hurt both her arms, and her legs were aching against the water, but she was moving.

 _(Fuck it._

 _I'm coming.)_

She looked down the passage. Her heart sank. It was endless, a winding, curving snake of wet that led into sharp corners and gripping undertows and -

 _(Ok, but the trip here didn't take that long, right? So it can't be that endless. And maybe there's an entrance up there that you came through, that'll make it - less - long and wind-y. And you've got to keep moving, you can't hold yourself like this forever.)_

Right hand. Left hand. Right foot. Left foot.

"Arrrrghghg." She growled. The Labyrinth was already confusing, the terrain didn't need to be this hard. Would cutting her a little slack hurt? Right hand. Left hand. Right foot. Left foot.

She made it 15 feet, muscles on fire. In the distance, she squinted - there was an entrance. On the opposite side.

 _(Shit. Shit. Did I go into that?)_ She closed her eyes, trying to rest, but it was like holding a squat.

 _(I just went forward, so that would mean I just went in a straight line -)_

 _(No, that's not true. I crashed into things. A lot. Fuck. I might have gone through a gap. I need to see the direction the current goes past that thing.)_

She got closer, inch by inch. There was a small whirlpool in front of the opening, tiny streaks of white foam surfacing in the grey water as it churned.

 _(I can't tell which way that one's flowing! What's a whirlpool mean? Two opposing currents? Is that right? I might have gone through it if it's flowing the same direction as this one…)_

 _(But I might not have gone through that, too. They're both flowing the same way._

 _What do I do now?)_

 _(… I don't suppose there's a blood trail I left behind from being hit? No? Of course not.)_

This was about a scientific as a coin flip. Actually, in this place, a coin flip would be about as accurate as her guessing.

"Hello?"

Her voice was, once again, swept away in the current.

 _(Maybe I should try to get over there - if I can look in the entry maybe I'll see - see something. Anything. Or at least be able to feel the current.)_

 _(Ok, so - how do I do that?)_

Sarah looked doubtfully at the water. She didn't have enough trajectory to jump, and she'd just get swept up if she tried.

 _(I have to go up further, jump back in, and aim myself for the gap as I shoot past. Goddamn this is a stupid plan.)_

It was the also the only one she had.

"Hope you're looking for me too, elf." She muttered, fighting her way slowly upstream.

 _(That's all I have left in me.)_

Sarah stood frozen, muscles on fire, arms shaking, but scared to jump in - if she got swept away, again - if she hit more rocks, if she went in further and deeper or just got knocked out -

 _(If he's also lost, or hurt, and you're wasting this time…)_

She forced as deep a breath as she could manage, and pushed off the wall.

Her air was immediately gone. It was _fast,_ too fast to remember, her legs were gone, her arms are useless, everything was dark and a huge, deadly, mistake…

She tumbled, around and around, there was no air, there was no ground, no up, no down, nothing, she would be nothing around and around and around -

in circles -

 _(I'm in the whirlpool! Get up! Get UP!)_

She pushed in a direction until she connected with something solid, and heaved, pushing, her hands scrabbling above the water, feeling air, rocks, slime -

 _(Air! I need air!)_

She surfaced in a gasp, trying to see and breathe. Dark, dizzy, around and around, caught in the whirlpool, light and dark, light and dark -

 _(Light! The entry! There!)_

She needed to shoot out at the right moment, or else she'd miss it - her legs pushed, and she launched forward, slamming and scraping herself into the rocks, her fingers clawing painfully, but she tore herself from the water, clinging and gasping. She'd made it, plastering herself into the frame of the entrance.

 _(I did it. I did it. Oh my god I'm going to die if I try that again.)_

Sarah heaved in air, trying to clear her head, as she peered into the next passage.

Rushing water. Stones. Slimy walls. Nothing recognizable.

 _(Of course.)_

But she'd made it this far.

 _(I really, really hope this is the right way. Please let this be the right way.)_

The water felt like it was going in the same direction. She'd have to chance it. Sarah pushed herself into the next passage, panting, scrambling for rocks. There was no other arches in case she slipped here, nothing to grab at if she fell off the wall. If she slipped, she'd be swept away.

 _(My hands are getting numb.)_ She realized suddenly. The water wasn't freezing, but the amount of pressure she was exerting was giving her pins and needles on top of her previous injuries.

 _(Please, let me find him soon.)_

"Come on, Labyrinth. Cut me a break." She grimaced as she pushed through the water, making it 20 feet before she saw another entrance.

 _(Fuck me.)_

 _(Did I go through that? Did I go through the first one back there? Am I even close to being on the right path back to him?)_

Her whole body shook with effort as she clung to the wall.

"Hello!" She yelled as loudly as she could. " _Hello!"_

She closed her eyes, trying to listen, but all there was, was river. River and rushing and the current.

 _(Shit.)_

She had no idea which way to go.

 _(I have to see if that entrance's current is going the same way.)_

She made her way slowly, so slowly; she wasn't just tired, she was exhausted, and running out of the little energy she had left. The only thing Sarah currently wanted to do was sit, inhaling copious amounts of oxygen, preferably in front of a large fire. She peaked over her shoulder to the entrance across the streaming water. It was frothing at the arch, and if she squinted, it looked like was going the opposite direction.

 _(Great. Awesome. So I couldn't have gone through that.)_

 _(… As long as this is the right path that I'm walking on right now. I don't know. Should I have gone through the first arch? Should I keep going?)_

She glanced up the path. It stretched into the distance and the dark.

 _(How far is that, even? How am I going so slowly but I got so far away so fast? Shit. Shit shit shit.)_

 _(Ok, Williams. Time to be realistic. How much further do you think you can go?)_

 _(… I'll just have to see. Maybe I'll find another gap and I can rest then.)_

She gritted her teeth and kept pulling herself along. She made it 10 feet, then 15, then 20. Her body screamed at her, but there was nothing to rest against.

"Hello!"

She'd started croaking it every five feet, just in case. She peered up the curving walls. There - was that another silt? Another gap? Or just an end to this passage? She couldn't tell. It was all dark and rocky. And it was so, so, far.

 _(No, it's a goal. A goal to get towards. Onwards.)_

She struggled forward. Sure enough, in another 30 feet, the path split into a T, but -

but -

She got closer. The current was sweeping to the left. To get into her current passage she was in now it would've -

 _(It would've had to have been going right. Which means -)_

Her heart sank. She was going up the wrong passage. She'd have to go all the way back, try to aim for the right entrance, make it through, and then pray that she would have enough left in her to repeat the crawl back up the first one.

 _(Shit. No. Goddamn it. I never should have left the first path.)_

She'd fucked up. She'd fucked up and done exactly what she'd wanted to not do, and she'd used all her strength doing it.

 _(What now? Cry? Is that what we're doing?)_

She was too tired to cry. She looked at the surging water again, willing her eyes to be wrong about the direction. They weren't.

 _(Fuck that current.)_ She looked back down the endless dark twist of stone. _(I'm just gonna have to float back down it. I have to keep trying. I have to.)_

 _(Until you die!? How is that useful to him!?)_

 _(How is just standing here doing nothing!?)_

She took a breath, trying to prepare herself to let go.

 _(It's easy. It's easy. Just remember to look for the gap and go through it. As I'm going underwater. And everything is dark. And I can't breathe.)_

 _(No, no, come on. Try. You have to. Ok, in ten. Ready? 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, -)_

She focused her aching eyes, looking for a non-existent merciful patch of smooth water she could push into, just something so that she wouldn't loose all her air this time. Maybe further upstream, if the opposing currents would create some kind of tranquil whirlpool or break in the river - she glanced back over her shoulder, to see if -

 _(- 5, there.)_

What?

 _(A flash of silver.)_

"HELLO!" She screamed, voice shredding. She saw it again. Squinted. Something in that corner. _(Please. Please.)_

She saw it - silver - movement in the darkness - she tried to go forward, towards it -

her hand slipped on the wall.

"No - !" Sarah lost her grip and the world.

Darkness again. Rushing, pounding, like her heart and her lungs. She was in the water and she was becoming water, she had it in her eyes, in her mouth, down her throat. She was just there, it was all dark, her vision was dark, the water was dark, the world was growing dark, everything was flowing - there would be a wall to crash into soon, she could feel it - there it was now, it was grabbing onto her bag, latching and tangling onto her hair, pulling her out of the water, away from the -

the -

There was light. There was air.

"I have you. I have you."

She coughed. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to see. It hurt to be alive. The wall was holding her. She coughed more water, she needed air, her lungs were trying to empty and fill at the same time, and everything was swimming, the water, her vision, swimming in and out.

"I have you. I have you."

Something was tilting her head, holding her and forcing her over to puke out more water.

"There. Breathe. Air."

 _(YOU try to breathe!)_ She attempted inhaling. _(There. I think this is how I breathe. I think. Oh my god it hurts, this can't be right -)_

She puked out water again, then took another short shuddering breath, which she coughed back up almost immediately.

 _(Lungs, if you want me to live, you gotta work with me here -)_

Air in, water out. Air in, water out. It took her several minutes before she could manage it, the black spots still there, waning but present, each intake of air straining her lungs.

 _(Fuck. Fuck.)_

Everything hurt. She blinked, wearily, glad she was held in place. It was all a blurry grey wet. Maybe her bag had gotten hooked on a stone, and she was pinned, but at least she could drift here, getting air -

"Can you hear me?"

Silver. _Wet_ silver.

 _(The wall is talking to me. Finally, the Labyrinth is helping me out. Only took me almost dying a million times.)_

She'd take a talking wall over nothing, though. She blinked again, trying to clear her vision.

"Can you hear -"

Wet silver. And… Pale - skin? Hands. Weird colors and appendages for a wall. She frowned, her brain a fog.

Face. Wet silver hair around a _face._ One that was too familiar for a wall. Sarah's blurriness cleared finally and a very wet Goblin King swam into her view. She grinned weakly, choking only a little. "I - you - found -"

"Do shut up. Talking at this point is not advisable. Just nod if you can hear me."

She was too tired to roll her eyes at his orders, settling for a weak nod.

"Can you breathe?"

Nod.

He was fuzzy. Everything was fuzzy. Dark colors rushed in and out of her eyesight with the water. She wanted solid, she wanted solid land, he was solid and she wanted to hold onto him and not let go, never lose him again, but her arms were weak, fingers stiff, and she just hung against him, limp.

"I…" He paused, his voice determined but searching. "I'm going to get us out of here. I'm going to make you safe. Do you understand? Can you hold onto me? Can you breathe?"

"Don't -" Her voice was a ghost, drowned out in the water. "Don't - lose - m-" The last word broke under more hacking.

"I won't. I found you, and I will not lose you again. I will always find you."

 _(Might be a bit late if I drown. Finding my corpse doesn't count, mazeman.)_

His face frowned, still fuzzy and dark. "I need to get you to safety. I'm going to tow you. Hold onto me."

Sarah could barely hold herself up, but she nodded again. Nodding was about all she could do.

He looked at her warily, then carefully turned around, guiding her arms around his neck, holding onto her wrists. She dangled there against him, legs swept out behind her uselessly as the water tried to drag her away again. She laid her head against his wet sleek hair - it was soft and -

\- she flashed back, wet and soft and sleek - reminding her of when she gave Merlin baths. Sarah giggled deliriously.

"Are - are you breathing alright?"

She nodded. _(He can't hear that, can he.)_ She raised her mouth to his ear. "Yep."

It _twitched_ slightly _(like a horse)_. She giggled again. _(Everything is funny.)_

"Try to concentrate on breathing, will you?" He sounded slightly concerned. "I'm going to walk us through. Just - hang on. I'll hold you."

"Hoookaaaayyy."

"Keep - keep breathing."

She filled her painful and aching lungs obediently, but each breath helped her clear her vision, just a bit. He waded into the middle of the water, the current coming up to his chest. Even he was fighting it, stumbling down the path as he pulled them forward. They entered the doorway Sarah had passed, continuing down it. Clarity was slowly returning to her, as well as the dull ache of her arms, but she forced herself to curl into his back as much as she could with what little muscle she had left.

 _(Letting go of him is worse than letting go of the wall, Sarah.)_

They reached a dead end. He said something darkly under his breath, turning back.

"You use magic… To get me?" She muttered into his ear.

"What? No. Well - no. Not really. And I can hear you without the whispering into my ear."

She ignored him, trying to wriggle closer. "But the… Current's loud. And… You couldn't hear me… Earlier."

"That's because I was too far away. Are you alright? Did you hit your head? You sound -"

"No… Tired and wet. You're… Wet. Why're you… Did you go swimming too?" _(What? I didn't go swimming. What am I saying? What are these words coming out of my mouth?)_ Her logic was starting to come back. That was something.

"No, I did not go _swimming._ I went looking for you. I ended up in the water several times."

"I was… Looking… For you too." She took another breath, which throbbed in her throat. She lowered her volume to a whisper, trying to spare her voice. "I found you… Again." _(I think he picked up on that. I should stop talking. Why am I talking. Come on brain.)_

 _"_ _Don't_ \- don't whisper. It's very - distracting. In my ear."

"Sorry." She leaned back into his hair.

"But yes, er… Good job on that. Well done."

She smiled a bit. _(Suck it. I can take care of myself. Sort of. In an effort to find you to help me. So. Basically.)_

They went into another entrance, the water rising further up his chest. She bent her elbows, trying to wrap herself around him more.

"It's - deeper." _(No shit, Sherlock. He can see that. Just concentrate on breathing.)_

"We're getting closer." His voice was determined. "Just a little while longer. Hang on."

They went down the passage, against the current, slowly now, very slowly, then rounded a bend, continuing on as the water rushed past in a roar. She closed her eyes.

 _(I hate this one. Stupid, drowning, water-river Labyrinth. It's not even magical. Magical rivers don't drown people,_ real _rivers drown people. If this even is a river. Either way, it's cheating. Its like a… A river dungeon. That's not even clever.)_

He stopped abruptly, as did the sound, in a deafening silence. Sarah opened her eyes.

They were standing in a lake.

The water had simply stopped rushing. Or, perhaps it flowed, but it was far beneath the surface. She swung against him, the water no longer trying to pull her away.

"What -" She stared out at it, rasping. "What happened? You do… Something? Where's the… Exit?"

"That's not important." He let her wrists go, turning around. "Let me look at you."

"But the exi-" The water was deep, and She'd forgotten about that, or how to swim to keep herself upright; she sank, plunging back into the water, her body limp and folding under her as she went. She felt his hands instantly grabbing her under the arms, pulling her up. "Geh!"

"Your reflexes aren't back, I see." His brow was furrowed. "Did you hit any rocks? Are you bleeding?"

She coughed, trying to clear her throat, her voice still sounding low and worn, but at least she wasn't whispering. "Hit some rocks, but didn't… Loose consciousness. Swallowed a lot of water. Not bleeding." He ignored her, one hand freeing itself to feel her face, pushing back the skin around her eyes. "Hey - ow! I made it back, didn't I? I must have had some kind rationale!"

"That was…" He paused, looking at her. "Lucky."

"Let's just… Get outta of here." She squirmed and he sighed, turning back around and slinging her wrists around his shoulders. "Where's the… Exit? What is this place? Why are we in… In a lake?"

"It's - I know it's here." She could hear the frown in his voice.

"Do you think it's… Invisible?"

"No…"

"Is it underwater?"

He paused, considering, then dipped forward, submerging them. She yelped, suddenly dunked.

"No." He righted himself.

"What the -!?" She sputtered, the explicative beyond her air capacity.

"You weren't really getting any drier." He noted.

"I was _catching my breath!"_

"Ah yes. I assumed your speech meant you'd sorted your breathing out."

 _(Smartass.)_ "Ok, knowitall… Where's the exit then!?"

"I don't -" The frustration crept back into his voice. He began moving around the lake, slowly. "It's here…"

Now THIS was some of the magical bullshit she was used to. She twitched against him, trying to look higher over his shoulder _._

 _(Where's the entrance? It's not invisible, it's not under the surface…)_

 _(It's got to be something to do with the water though, right? It has to be. Water was the entrance to lots of underwater castles and kingdoms. The little mermaid, Japanese dragons and sea gods, river nixies and trolls, Atlantis… But…)_

She looked at the walls for any kind of markings. There were none.

 _(But you didn't need to do anything to get into those places. If the creatures wanted you underwater, you could simply breathe underwater, or they straight up gave you, like, an enchanted pearl. Bam. Magic. And clearly_ I _couldn't breathe underwater earlier. There was nothing that I remember in those stories about opening a secret gate or a magic password… Sometimes with mermaids or silkies you had to steal things, but there's nothing here to steal… So… How did one open a water-gate-maze-exit?)_

 _(Well, maybe it's not a gate. Maybe it has something to do with the river - it went from thrashing to silent… Rough to smooth…)_

"What are you so quiet about?" His voice broke her thoughts.

"I'm letting you concentrate." She cleared her swollen throat.

"Is that all?"

 _(Does he want help or something? I'm trying.)_ "I'm thinking about… How to get in the entrance." She said, her sentence hanging in the air. He was silent as they moved forward.

 _(The river. The rushing water. There_ were _magical waters and rivers, but most of them were magical because of WHAT was in the water, not the water itself. Fountain of Youth was an exception, but I don't feel any younger or better, I feel like I almost died._

 _A river that tries to kill you… Hmm…)_ "Any rivers that try to kill you in your Labyrinth? I remember you having a thing for bogs." She tried.

" _Death rivers_ are not what my Labyrinth offers. And my bog is completely different." His tone was icy.

"… You're right, they're _worlds_ apart. Forgive my mistake." _(Geez. A death river isn't your style, but a bog of stink is? A death river sounds_ way _cooler than a bog of stench, anyways… A death river would…)_

"Wait!" She croaked out suddenly.

"I understood your sarcasm, I chose not to respond, there's no need to yell -"

"No! Just - put me down!" He didn't move, so she kicked against him. "I have an idea!"

"What is it?" He said warily.

"I'll just let go if you don't -"

"And you'd sink again." She could hear the smirk back in his voice. She twitched her arms, trying to test his grip, and he instantly tightened it.

"Patience is a skill we could stand to work on -" He remarked, ducking under her hands so he could pull her around to face him. She squirmed, trying to tread water with her feeble legs. "And stop that." He ordered, glaring at her. "Hold still."

"I need to get to my bag!"

"Just _wait_ a moment." He grabbed her shoulders, keeping her up.

"Can I move now?"

"As you wish."

She gave a thumbs-up with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "Gee, thanks for the permission." Sarah pulled her dripping bag from the water, holding it up.

"What _are_ you doing?"

"A death river." She looked at him, then started rummaging for the inner pocket clumsily.

"What?"

"A death river - there's a very specific magical river in greek mythology, called the river Styx. It runs into the underworld, where people go to die."

"The Underworld is _not_ where people go to -"

"It's not _your_ Underworld, it's greek - it's where Hades rules, it's like hell - nevermind. The point is," She'd found the pocket. "The only way you can cross the river is with money under your tongue."

"This is quite a foolish Underworld."

"Hey, I didn't _design_ it, I just read about it."

"Hm. It sounds boring as well."

"Look, I'm sorry they used the same name as you or whatever." She unzipped the inner pocket, grabbing her extra 5 dollars she kept stored in case of emergencies. It wasn't a coin, but it might be enough. "Just let me see if this works, ok?" She looked at the soggy dollar.

 _(I think any germs that were ever on this are nothing compared to swallowing a gallon of magic water, right?)_

She hesitated, then popped it under her tongue.

Nothing happened. He stared at her. "Perhaps it isn't working because you're not dead."

She sighed, spitting out the money into her hand. It'd seemed like a good idea. "Ok, well… Not for lack of trying. Anything you'd like to suggest?"

"Don't die."

"Thanks man." She rolled her eyes as he slung her about his shoulders again. "Good talk." _(Fine. I don't know. It seemed to fit. Rushing water that tried to kill me… Underground-prison-tunnel-thing… Whatever.)_

She looked up, the top of the walls forming a circle high above them. It was the most amount of light she'd seen in the place. It reminded her of looking through a telescope.

 _(What about that?)_

 _(… What about what?)_

 _(Where are you? You keep thinking about the river, but what are you inside of right now? What is this place?)_

"What are we in, exactly?" She ventured.

"Stone."

"Great. Thanks again." She thought about it. He wasn't _technically_ wrong. Stone walls… Stone round walls… A tower.

 _(There are no towers with rivers._

 _Towers… Prisons… Round prison towers with water… Water buildings… Stone water buildings…)_

She looked up again. It reminded her of… What. A very high, vertical tunnel. One that had water on side and a bright cloudy grey on the other.

 _(What would it look like from above, Sarah?)_

She squinted. A giant round stone… Tube. Sphere. A sphere filled with water at the bottom.

 _(I am not in a Labyrinth bong, thanks.)_

Try again.

A huge stone tube with water at the bottom… A… Stone bucket? No. A whistle? No, it was too tall for either of those things… A long stone tube - wait. This place was also pretty wide, right? It must've been for them to be wandering through it. A thick, tall, tube made of thousands of stones, with water all the way at the end… A… A… A well?

But…

She looked at the water. _(But a well didn't have rushing water. That didn't make sense.)_

 _(Wait…)_

 _(No… Some did.)_

Not all of them, but some did. Some wells were built on top of underground streams.

 _(So if that's true… Then what does that mean? If this is a well… It's not like there's a giant bucket or a rope to climb on…)_

She swallowed, feeling stupid, but… "Is the entrance in the air somewhere?"

"No - I can't describe it. We're - we're _in_ the entrance, but we can't - go through it yet."

 _(Like paying a toll. Ok, it's a well. Just hypothetically. Stupid, but a hypothetical stupid. A magical well. A magical well with a hidden gate that we can't go through yet. So, a well where you have to pay a toll. How do you get through a magical well? What wells are there in stories?)_

 _(Wishing wells.)_

The thought was there, suddenly. A wishing well. A wishing well was magic, a wishing well would grant a wish, and all you needed -

Sarah wriggled her wrist out of his grip, looking at her swollen curled fist. "We just need to get through, right?"

"That's what I've been -"

 _(Well, I think that's worth 5 dollars.)_

"Hold still a sec." She glanced at the money. _(What do I wish for? To go to the next part of the Labyrinth? To get through the entrance? To see the entryway? One of those should work.)_

She threw the money as far as she could, which was about 3 feet given her sore shoulders. Paper just didn't carry, soggy paper especially so. It floated on the surface, uncrumpling slowly and sinking.

Nothing happened.

"What are you -" He began.

She clapped her free hand over his mouth. "Shh!" _(Did I miss something? Did I not get it right? What did I - oh!)_

She took a breath.

 _(I wish.)_

 _No, that wasn't right. The way to say it is: I wish to go through this part. Right now._

Silence. Nothing.

She sighed and removed her hand from his mouth. At least she'd given it a shot. He twisted his head back to look at her.

"What did you do!?"

Oh. The hand thing. "Sorry, I needed you to be quiet. I was trying something out."

" _Such as!?"_

 _(Great.)_ Now he was pissed about being silenced. _(I just wanted you to shut up for a second.)_ "It was a stupid idea about money and a wishing well - sorry. I thought maybe this was a well, because of the shape of the stone and the running water, and from the outside it would look - anyways, you throw money in the well, and it grants a wish, so I thought maybe we could make it through if I threw the - " She heard a noise, turning her head. It sounded like wind, like a small breeze, getting louder. "What's that?"

"A - you - did _what?"_ He backed into the wall.

"Ow! Hey!" She was being squashed behind him. She leaned forward to yell in his ear. "I said -" Sarah caught sight of the lake. It was draining rapidly, pouring to the center, being sucked away from them, churning. "What -"

The breeze became a roar of wind. She looked around, trying to find the source -

and then water rushed in all at once.

She clung onto him as they were lifted, off their feet, in an instant, and then plunged under. She had time to get a small gasp before they were surrounded. She felt him kicking, and they hit the surface -

"What's hap-" She began, but her words were drowned out by a horrible draining, sucking noise. The lake was a giant whirlpool.

 _(We're going to get pulled in.)_

 _(Shit.)_

 _(What is - )_

He grabbed her arms from the front as they were pulled into the tornado of water, pushed under the surface and Sarah lost track of up and down and all direction. She only felt his hands on her wrists as they were flipped, she was on his back and then she wasn't, they were tumbling and turning and she didn't know where he was, she just felt his hands and water - everything was water and nothing was air and whichever direction they were, they were going further and further in it -

The water got colder and colder and darker and darker. A very small part of her brain flashed a certain death-river-theory she'd had and then it was ice water, it was ice and it was so cold there was nothing -

nothing but -

light -

 _(That was light, so that must be -)_

Sarah pulled and surfaced, gasping in freezing air, the frigid oxygen stabbing at her lungs. She tried to stay above water, but something was weighing her down, pulling her -

 _(Oh!)_

She strained, pulling upwards, trying to kick, dragging his arms. He came up, gasping, silver hair slicked back against his head. His grip tightened, crushing her wrists.

Not that it mattered. She couldn't really feel anything, but -

"Hey -" She began. Then she started to seize up.

She felt him pulling her, but it was numb, it was all numb. There was the possibility of something dragging but she wasn't sure. It suddenly didn't seem that important.

 _(At least it doesn't hurt.)_

She was moving from cold to cold, dark to white, a bright white, and a nap sounded so good, if she could just take a quick break, just close her eyes for a second, then -

Something hit her in the face. Hard.

"Gah!" She managed.

"Don't do that!" Angry. Cold and angry. _(Always so angry at me. I didn't even do anyth-)_

Something else was… Not cold. Something heavy.

 _(Oh.)_ She could breathe properly again. She could _feel_ again, at least a little. It was dark. There was an opening in the darkness, a crack of the light, and she poked her head out of it, looking up at -

"You are exhausting to travel with."

The face of the Goblin King.


	17. Fractal Fragments

A/N: It's been so long! Greetings! I am still here, just dealing with business, crazy people and writers block, but here we are! And HELLO 40 followers! HI. NOT ALL OF YOU CAN BE SPAMBOTS AT THIS POINT, RIGHT? STATISTICALLY THAT SEEMS IMPROBABLE. HOLY GUACAMOLE AND WELCOME TO THE MADNESS.

This next segment kind of reads like it's an ending. It… Is not. It is not even close to it. If you're hoping for an ending… It's gonna be a while, bail while you can. I don't want to make this A/N super long but I thought I'd cover some points real quickly! 1. This story is kinda dark, if ya hadn't picked up on that. It will continue to get darker from this point! 2. Also! You sometimes have to hit people to keep them awake bc if you all asleep when you're cold you can die. It's a sign the body is shutting down. That's why Jareth hit Sarah. It wasn't hard, it was just enough to keep her awake so she doesn't die on him. Jareth doesn't hit Sarah. Abuse has no place in love. And obviously it was a consensual S&M thing either. This ain't that type of story. Just wanted to clarify the hitting bit to make it ABSOLUTELY *crystal* clear. Thanks again to new followers, encouraging reviews, and general patience and positivity! I sincerely appreciate y'all. Cheers!

 **Fractal Fragments**

"Uh?" She blinked blearily. Not cold. No, she was, but - but -

 _(Cold, but - but this is ok. I can breathe. Where are we? What happened? Can I sleep yet?)_ She closed her eyes again and something tapped her face, hard. "Ow!"

"Stay awake."

 _(First I almost drown, then I almost freeze, and all he can do is hit me in the face!)_ She opened her eyes, squinting angrily up at his chin. Wait. _(His chin. Why am I at this angle. What happened. Is he -)_

She looked down. The ground swung gently below her as she moved. _(But I'm not walking… So…)_

So that meant she was being carried. Again. Sarah sighed, too weak to argue. Or struggle. Or do anything besides let him cradle her. Besides, her body felt very heavy -

The cloak was wrapped around her, pinning her arms. It wasn't warm exactly, but it wasn't cold either. She huddled into it as much as she could.

"W-w-wh-wh-" She tried to ask, but her chattering jaw had other ideas.

"We're in ice. We… Passed through. Into - this. Ice."

That explained the white light around them. Sarah looked onto the bleached landscape, it was a windless but freezing arctic in a thick fog of clouds. The river churned off to the side, rushing and fighting, white waves crowning over each other. In the distance, the horizon blended in with the line of the ice, everything a grey-white haze.

"C-c-c-cloak -" Her brain hadn't caught up with her words yet.

"I threw it around you."

"Y-y-y-you - c-c-c-c-cold?"

He looked down at her warily. "No."

"M-m-m-m-agic?" She tried to look at him sternly, but settled for a tired squint.

He sighed at her expression. "No. My body temperature is less unaffected by the external than human's are."

 _(Ok. I don't care. As long as you're safe. Whatever, you magical glitter-firefly.)_ She fell back slightly, resting into - his shoulder, his arm, she didn't know. She didn't care. He _was_ warm though, heat radiating from his body.

 _(He's so… Warm.)_

 _(Why did I always think he would be cold?)_

 _(I think I just assumed he… Would be. When I used to think about him, I always thought when I touched him, he'd be -)_

 _(When did you ever think you'd be touching him?)_

 _(No, but - ... Wait. I… Remember though. I_ do _remember him being… Warm. When we… Once, he was warm when…)_

Her dazed brain brought forth an image, in another place, another white place… Their hands touched… _There'd been music…._

She frowned, trying to concentrate and get warmer, and she leaned into him further, getting some feeling back in her face. _(Hang on. Hold up. I'm being carried. Which means these are his arms that are holding me. So then I'm pressing my face - into his chest -)_

She became very stiff, attempting to reverse her movement.

"What are you doing? Are you cold again?"

"Uh… I j-j-j-just, y-y-y-you know -" She tried to bend away as much as she could, which wasn't a lot, given his grip on her body. Maybe if she tilted forward -

He adjusted his arms and she fell forcibly back into her previous position.

"You're s-s-s-squashing m-m-m-e!" _(Into your chest!)_ He didn't listen. _(Well, I'm definitely warmer now.)_ She could feel her face turning bright red. "You d-d-d-on't have to h-h-h-old so t-t-t-t-t-ight! Y-you can r-r-relax y-your grip!"

"Why do I have the feeling you'll start wriggling again as soon as I do?"

"I -" _(Because I will, this is extremely awkward and -)_ She paused, holding her breath. _(Wait.)_ "W-w-w-where's your h-h-h-heartbeat?" She stared up at his chin.

"In my chest."

 _(Smartass.)_ "Why c-c-c-can't I hear it? Do you even h-h-h-ave a heart?"

"Of course I - did you really think I was heartless? Or perhaps it was made of ice? Or stone?"

"H-h-h-ey man, I d-d-d-didn't know you had p-p-ointy ears until a few hours ag-go."

He chuckled, his chest moving slightly.

"Is it r-r-r-really t-t-there?"

"Yes, why -"

She shifted her head, pressing her ear into him. He was very warm. "L-liar. I d-d-don't hear -"

"Shhh." He murmured, softly.

She waited.

 _(There.)_ It was very, very, slow. She tried breathing with it, but her cramped position made it hard to fill her lungs entirely for the amount of time. She spoke again, quietly. "Are… Are you d-d-dying?"

"What - no! Why do you -"

"It's j-just -" She breathed again, listening. "Its r-really s-slow."

"I'm _concentrating_ on keeping myself warm _._ "

"Y-y-yeah b-but - _m-my_ h-heart is l-like -"

"I can feel it. Racing."

 _(Ok well, that's cause you're making me - very - whatever.)_

"My heart beats… Slower. Human's hearts seem very rapid, very - flighty." He remarked.

"M-m-maybe - that might be just m-mine r-right now."

"No, other's hearts - other human's - beat very fast overall."

"M-maybe that's the ef-f-fect _you_ h-have on them." _(Wait. What.)_ "I - I m-mean - like - ap-p-pearing suddenly, and - j-just - kidnapping -" _(Shit.)_

He chuckled again. Her ear still on his chest, she heard it inside of him, like a purr or a rumble, but there was lightness in it, something soft.

"S-s-shaddup." She mumbled.

"Ah, humans. Your pulse increased, by the way."

 _(Fuck you, that's why.)_ "M-maybe I'll just b-become a m-magical elf and then I w-won't have to w-worry about h-hearts or g-getting cut up or d-drowning or _f-f-freezing to d-death_."

"Maybe." His tone was cooler.

 _(What? He's calling me human. Was that - should I not have said that? Was that offensive? Is that even a thing? Magical species-transitioning bigotry? Or is that something that actually happens, like changelings? Don't know. Too tired to think. Hope I didn't offend him.)_

He said nothing. His heartbeat was hypnotic.

 _(I don't even think mine can beat that slowly. Maybe when I'm asleep.)_

"W-what happened to the w-well?" She tried against his silence.

"The what?"

"The l-l-last L-l-l-la-lab-maze."

"Whatever you did let us out." He sighed, his chest rising and falling against her. "Perhaps next time, however, a warning would not be amiss."

"W-well that's - r-r-revenge for when you d-didn't w-warn me about the m-mushrooms. Or the m-mirrors. So t-there." Sarah harumphed up at him. He glanced down at her, and for a split second she was afraid he would glare, or be offended or drop her -

but instead his mouth twisted into a wry smile as he gazed, and she started at it (a _smile? Why - what -),_ blinking, could now _hear_ her increasing heartbeat in her ears and -

"I - I mean - s-s-sorry." She paused, then spoke quietly, feeling stupid. "I just d-didn't… Think it would w-work. Wishing w-wells aren't usually p-portals, in my d-defense. In my world, you just - you just t-throw in a coin, and m-make a wish."

He looked up and spoke, distain puncturing his sentences. "Yes, I've seen them. But nothing happens. And then someone else gets all the coins."

"It's -" She tried to find the words to explain. "It's m-more like - you hope the w-w-ell will grant it to you s-somehow. And it's not the c-coin, it's the action of trying to -"

"Buy a wish?"

"N-n…Never thought of it that way, b-but sure."

He snorted lightly. "Foolish."

"Hey, I mean if it w-worked for me back there, m-maybe it really _does_ work."

He glanced back down at her, the scornful look fading from his face as he spoke. _"You_ need never wish on any coins or wells, or -" He paused, staring at her, the sudden hesitation hanging between them.

 _(He looks like… Like I should know how to finish his sentence. Like I should have the answer. But… I don't. Why shouldn't I need to wish on coins or wells?)_ "I -" She didn't know what to say. "… What?"

"… Nothing." He looked up, brow furrowed.

 _(Now what'd I do?)_ "B-but -"

"The path."

"W-what? Where!? P-put me d-d-down!" She twisted his arms, trying to see. He stopped and swung her to the ground, moving his hands to her shoulders. "How does that - can you move? Careful, it's -"

"S-Sure, I -" She scooted a foot to the side and slipped immediately. He caught her and sighed as Sarah stared at the ground, bewildered. "What? What - what happened?"

" _Careful, it's ice."_

"Ok, ok, I got it, lemme try again, l-leggo." He ignored her, holding on even more tightly. She tried again, awkwardly gaining her footing. As long as she placed her boots carefully, she could handle it. Sarah grinned up at him. "Got it. N-now what did you m-mean w-when you said -"

He rotated her around, pointing. "There."

"What -" She looked out at the river, which had turned into ice as they walked along next to it, its waves frozen on top of each other, paralyzed as they rushed forward onto the ice becoming more ice. They'd spiked onto each other, layered and crisp, white sheets and giant icicles as the waves rose from the water in mounds and angles, forming large crystals that poked from the ground. Crystals that grew larger and larger as she followed them with her eyes, protruding from the ice like a glass porcupine; they intersected and wove together, into each other, creating a mesh of geometry, like a cave, or a -

"Is that - is this an ice Labyrinth? And we're going _in_ that?"

He shrugged. "One would assume."

She looked at it, an imposing fortress of ice in solitude. _(The abominable yeti isn't a fairy tale, right? He wouldn't be in there, right? Right, of course, right. Please god.)_ She breathed out, watching her air curl like smoke above her. "Ok. I g-g-guess we s-s-should -"

His hand touched her hand, fingers closing around it lightly, the other placed fully against her back, supporting her. She looked up at him, sentence gone.

"Shall we?" He cocked his head at her, moving forward. Sarah slipped again, but his hand kept her upright, balancing her. "Steady."

 _(If you didn't - I wouldn't have lost my balance if you hadn't distracted me -)_

But now he was guiding her across the sparkling ice. His footsteps were effortless, he wasn't slipping, he was -

He was almost dancing.

She, on the other hand, was panting with effort. "How - how are you going this s-smoothly!? Do you have m-magic shoes!?"

He chuckled and she glared at her own boots skidding along on the glassy surface, any grip they offered caked in snowy grime.

 _(That's probably exactly what it is. Or some kind of stupid magical-elf-balance. This isn't fair. I say that a lot, but I mean it this time. I can't even walk!)_

Sarah looked out at the ice, sighing, feeling his fluid motion as he steered her forward. Something stirred in her mind, at the back of her memory, a trickle of…

 _(What was this. This is so familiar. I've done… Something like this before…_

 _What is this…_ _I_ know _this…)_ She was wearing something too big for her, stumbling about as an elegant, beautiful creature guided her around an unfamiliar territory -

 _(_ Beautiful? _When did that become a word we used to describe him?)_

 _(He's - well, he IS beautiful. He just is. He has - I don't know, elf-face. Just… Look at him.)_

She snuck a glance upward at his impassive face, staring out at the ice. The light caught his silver hair and pale skin, making him look like some kind of -

 _(Some kind of etherial being? Like an elf? Is that what you were thinking of perhaps?)_

 _(Whatever. Yes, alright, he looks gorgeous, I've been over this, and next to him I'm sure I look like a frozen prawn.)_

 _(I've felt like this before…)_

 _(An icy crustacean?)_

 _(No, this - this feeling. Of him, leading me, just like this…There was music…)_

They got closer to the crystals, which started at about three feet tall and grew, slanting up at odd angles, grew until they were taller than trees, interlocking and intertwining together into a…

 _(A crystal forest - no. Wait. A crystal cave. That's what it looks like. An ice crystal cave. It's beautiful, but it's kind of… Overdone. A place that's glittery, white, grotesquely ornate -)_

The memory crept up on her silently, and suddenly it was all she was thinking…


	18. What Happened

A/N: Ahahaha another chapter so SOON what's going on!? Well the answer is don't ask questions cause I don't know! We're working our way to a lot of ANGST though, so here we go... (Again just want to stress that this is NOT the end of the story though it might feel like it pretty soon it's just very dramatic and there's a lot of climatic emotions and stuff. Thank you all for the follows and reviews! Y'all gave me feelings of warmth despite writing about the cold! I read all of them and smile. HAPPY HALLOWEEN MONTH. IF NOTHING ELSE I PROMISE AT LEAST ONE MORE CHAPTER AT THE END OF THIS MONTH HOPEFULLY MORE BUT WHO KNOWS NOT ME. Does anyone else consider Labyrinth a halloween or seasonal movie? I do, but I think I probably saw it in October the first time I watched it, so... Basis for comparison and all that.)

 **What Happened**

There'd been music and she'd been wearing something that shone and sparkled and had been very hard to move in, and Sarah had felt like she was pretending, and was failing. Everyone knew she was little, that she didn't belong. She wasn't warped enough for their dream world, and she wasn't adult enough for their ballroom. It was filled with ribbons and bows and bubbles and icing and Sarah…  
Sarah wasn't a part of it.

She'd felt lost, like everyone was staring at and ignoring her at the same time. Nothing there was real, she knew, but she was still _there,_ she was in it, participating, _being_ in this world that both trapped and rejected her. The realization hadn't made her feel any more courageous, it just made her… Alone.

And then _he'd_ appeared and made it… Well, not worse, not better, but -

They'd danced, whirling, and she knew she was supposed to forget, to enjoy, but he'd just made her even more nervous. His hand in hers, controlling, his eyes telling her to… She didn't know. She never knew. His face seemed to have all the answers but she couldn't get any questions out, her heart in her throat, blocking her tongue, words lost behind a haze of anxious speechless wonder. And he was the worst out of all of them; he wasn't making snide jokes she'd never understand or mocking her or whirling around giddily, he was the opposite. He was graceful, keeping her, holding her in his eyes, taking charge, but she didn't -

she never knew what _he_ meant, and then she'd seen the clock.

It was a distraction. It was all a distraction, and Sarah knew it, but years later, when she was awake and she was alone and it was 3 am, when sleep had never arrived and never would… When she was wasting away wishing for something she could do, anything she could do to see them again, Sarah would wonder why. She had gone over every step of her journey, every moment, to make sure she hadn't missed something, anything that could get her back, and she would always pause when she came to the ball.

Because… It was all very much for just a simple distraction, that dream.

It was probably - it must have been because she'd wanted that, right? She'd wanted to feel grown up and happy and pretty at a party. Not just a party; a ball. A Cinderella, happily-ever-after, princess masquerade ball.

 _(But I didn't ask for that. Maybe - maybe that was what he'd played on, right? Sarah wants to be a grown up and be at the party, but Sarah can't handle what she's asking for, Sarah's not ready to be that yet…)_

But - why _that?_

It would bother her, her mind going in circles for hours, chasing its own idea, giving no answers, just creating more dead-end doubts.

 _(Why that fantasy?)_

Why that, when a million other things would have distracted her, would have kept her from Toby, would have pulled her away from where she wanted to go, but a Goblin King dancing with her? In fact, if _she_ were trying to distract someone, she wouldn't have put herself in the dream at all, it would remind that person they were running away from her, so then why was it a -

" - Listening?"

"Ballroom?" Sarah said, frowning.

"What?" He looked at her.

"Wh- what?" _(Did you just say the word ballroom? Out loud? Idiot, Sarah. You're an idiot.)_ "What?"

"I said, are you listening?"

"To what? You?" _(Who else!? Get it together!)_

"I was saying, we're entering." He nodded at the crystals. They'd reached the entrance, a dark blue shrouded in angular shadows.

"Oh. Yeah. I got - I got that. Cool." She nodded enthusiastically a half-dozen times to illustrate the point.

"… Are you alright?"

"I'm - hahaha. Yeah, I'm good."

"What was that about a ballroom?"

"Uhhhhhhh -" _(_ S _tall. Stall.)_ "I was thinking about a ballroom." _(That's your idea of stalling? Really?)_

"Were you…" His voice was light.

 _(Too light. He's not going to let this go. I can feel it.)_

Sure enough, he continued, his voice the same timbre. "…Why?"

"Uhm…My mind - wandered - reminded me - of stuff. Dancing." _(Goddamnit. Why don't you just tell him your whole thought-memory process? Or that you think he's a beautiful elf? Did that water freeze your brain?)_

They entered the arch and she was momentarily spared from further questions, the floor perfectly smooth and polished. Sarah's feet bent out from under her, and she had to fully lean into his arm. This was worse than outside, where at least the terrain was a little uneven and rough; now she was fighting for her grip and the ability to stay upright as she moved. The crystals fused together in a chaotically geometric ceiling, their light filtering through them in a murky blue-grey, radiating dimly, creating an overcast glow of purple shadows. Little spiked crystals meshed with larger ones that seemed to grow from every angle, laying out a bony, prickly path that wove into the layered darkness beyond. Sarah stared, transfixed, until his voice brought her rapidly crashing back.

"Dancing…" His tone curled. "Were you now?"

"What? Oh. Dancing. Yeah, I don't know, my brain's a little cold after -"

He pushed her forward, fast, and she slid out on the ice, spinning away, clinging to his other hand with a yelp. He flicked his wrist and she rotated jerkily, twisting in a clumsy circle, each leg struggling for balance and control, both getting tangled in the cloak. Then she was pulled back and she fell, grabbing onto his arms, wheezing. He steadied her upright as she stared at him, mouth open.

"Dancing." His voice was a laugh.

"That's - not - I -" Her voice was a puff of exasperation and surprise. "What just -"

"Dancing." He repeated, casually.

"O- ok. Just - no. I can barely stand! Don't _do_ that!" _(Dancing? What? What was that? Another one of his weird jokes? I could've spun and impaled myself right into a crystal! He knows I can't -)_

Her face was pink again, from the effort of staying upright, and dealing with whatever - that had been. She glared, noting the smirk that tugged at his mouth.

 _(He's enjoying himself, is what that was. Dancing. Sure. He's dancing. Look at that face. He's having fun.)_

Sarah rolled her eyes, but was then forced to glue them to the floor as he pushed her further into the path. The ground sloped down, and she moved against her own balance. He slid forward fluidly and she was filled with the urge to kick him as she fought for footing.

"It's better," He spoke in a purr, gliding along next to her, "If you relax."

"You -… You relax!" She puffed, breathless. _(Stupid ice!)_ She thought back to the mushrooms, the well, and the books. _(Not that I'm better on any other terrain we've faced, when I really think about it.)_

"I am. It's just like… Dancing."

She shot him a wary glance, wondering if he'd twirl her again, but he met her gaze with the same smirk. Sarah shook her head.

The smirk widened into a grin. "You remember how, obviously."

 _(He's still not letting this go.)_

She took her eyes fully off the floor, trying to look at him in a level fashion, to open her mouth and tell him that they should concentrate on just getting moving forward, thanks-very-much, and promptly slid into a crystal.

 _(So much for dignity.)_

He pulled her back gently. She hated him and his magic shoes or whatever was letting him glide like that. She sighed, frustrated. "I - don't remember how to dance. So… Not very helpful."

He spoke lightly through his smile. "I suppose I shall have to remind you, then."

 _(Wait.)_ She narrowed her eyes, deciding to split her gaze between the floor and him at the same time, bobbing her head up and down. "Remind me? Remind me about what? I… I never said I was talking about - the dream."

His face wasn't as light now. It was… Dark. No, playful. No. _(What is that? Taunting?)_

"What dream?"

Sarah let out a frustrated puff. "You know what I'm talking about."

" _You_ just said I didn't."

He matched her gaze, eyebrow arched.

 _(It's like… Not like he's trying to start a fight, but… Like he's messing with me. I think he -…_ Wants _me to ask questions. Really? Ok. I'll bite.)_ "Do you - the dream, bedazzled Dobby. The peach dream? The one you gave me?"

They hit a dead end. He began pulling her back, her feet scrabbling as she tried to adjust to the ice, which now went uphill, splitting into 3 branches.

"Whatever are you referring to?" He drifted to the right, ducking slightly under a large ceiling crystal.

"Didn't you give me a peach? To make me have a dream?" _(Admit it.)_

"Hmm." The path ended abruptly. He slowly spun them around, as if considering her questions. "Ah. I recall I might have done that."

"Wow. Yeah? You think maybe you remember that? What a real recovery there, Sir Amnesia. So you remember the dream?" _(Admit it!)_

His voice became lofty. "My dear girl, whatever gave you the impression that _I_ controlled that dream? I merely gave the peach to Hoggle, if you'll recall."

"But -" She looked up at him, troubled. "Hoggle? So…" Her heart lurched in her chest uncomfortably along with the rhythm of her feet. Hoggle. Hoggle had given her the peach. _(So then, that meant… Maybe he didn't control the dream. Maybe that was all you, Sarah. Maybe he just made an enchanted peach, one that would knock me out, and then… Then I came up with the whole ballroom scene.)_

 _(No, that's not - I -)_

 _(Why would you assume that he would control it?)_

 _(Wait.)_ She narrowed her eyes. _(I've been through this argument myself. And if that_ were _true - why would he - be in my dream? Why would I put him in my own dream? That doesn't - no.)_ "No, that doesn't make sense." She aimed an accusatory squint at up him. "Liar."

"I never _lie."_ He sniffed. They'd reached the start of the fork, and he pulled her to left prong, the passage winding downhill in a squiggle.

"You don't lie? Fine. Did you give me a weird dancing dream?"

"I gave you a peach to make you forget."

"You -" _(What's he doing? I know he gave me a peach. He's…)_ "You - you're _dodging_ the question!"

"It's not a _lie._ " His voice was carefully measured.

"Aha! So, then, Goblin King, did you or did you not control my dream?"

He released her without warning, gliding past, and she skidded to a shaky halt as the ground leveled out.

 _(Really? That's how you're going to avoid me? I can walk, you bastard. I can - skid. Sort of. Shit.)_

She looked like a drunken deer, trying to catch up as him, her feet getting further apart as she waved her arms like a scarecrow. Sarah concentrated on not impaling herself on anything pointy-shaped as he spun around, waiting for her, his face a dark grin.

"Asshole -" She began, finally catching up to him. And then he grabbed both her shoulders, pulling her close, fast. She lost control of her feet, and he held her, looking down.

She was suddenly acutely aware that it was just them. Just her and just him, in a cave. A beautiful, silent, magical cave. Just her, Sarah, a stupid human girl who sometimes couldn't stop asking questions, asked them without thinking, without wondering what the answer could be. Her heartbeat was going very fast and felt very warm, despite the quiet cold of the crystals. He was extremely close to her, the light from the cave making his eyes look blue and black as they met hers, pulling her in.

 _"_ And if I did control your dream, what would that mean to you, human girl?" He lowered his voice into a murmur.

"I - nothing! It - it was just a question." _(A question that's making me turn red, thanks for that.)_ "It - it doesn't mean _anything._ I just… Wanted to know."

"Perhaps I did."

She looked at him, swallowing. His eyes and the shadows and her balance made her - dizzy. Giddy. It was time to leave the subject alone.

 _(He started it, anyways, trying to prod me to - I don't know what he wanted. Teasing me, testing me, I have no idea how his head works or what his endgame is here.)_ She wasn't going to get any answers. "Whatever. Fine. You're right. It's not important."

She found her footing and shrugged him off, sliding shakily onward and praying she wouldn't fall on her ass. _(Why do I care so much, anyways?)_

"I'll answer an answer for an answer."

 _(Of course you will. Nothing's ever free, is it? It's always for a price.)_ She considered, then… "Fine. What's your question? And shouldn't we be going?"

He didn't budge. She turned fully back around to face him, staring him down as best she could.

His eyes were two conflicting sparks in the shadows. Daring her. "I'll ask again: What would it mean to you, if I controlled your dream?"

 _(Why do_ you _care?)_ She bit her lip, trying not to look away, but her eyes started to water and she had to blink. "Wh- I - I don't know."

He sighed. "Then I suppose, precious, that I can't remember anything beyond a peach."

 _(Why does he always have to be so difficult!)_ A frustrated groan escaped through her lips. _(Look at him, pushing all my buttons. He's getting me riled up, he knows exactly how. Stay cool, Williams. Just explain your theory. See if that gets a reaction. He thinks he's so smart?)_ "I have an… Idea about… The dream. But - it wouldn't be true unless you controlled it."

"Ah. So then. What's the… Idea?"

She pointed at him. "Aha! I answered your question!" _(Sucker.)_

"So you did." He smiled. "And so… I did."

"What?"

He slid up to her, once again taking her reluctant hand back, steering them forward. The path twisted to the right, around a giant pillar-like crystal in their path.

 _(He said he did. He did what?)_ "Wait - you - controlled the dream or answered the question?" _(He said a bunch of vague shit earlier! I can't remember all of it!)_

"What's your idea?"

Ah. _(Fuck.)_ She stretched the silence out between them. Was it her imagination, or did his hands just tighten slightly on hers? Sarah weighed her options, staring between crystals. She _could_ lie, but had a nasty feeling he would be able to tell. Or… She could do what he did. Vaguely twist and stretch the truth. That. She could do that. _(Two can play at that game.)_

 _(Stop it. He said he did, which means, he controlled the dream, and he answered the question.)_

 _(Does it? Or does it mean he said something that answered it in another way?_

 _Goddamnit, I just want to hear him say it! I can do this! I can play this!)_

"It… Was… I just… It was about why… You were in the dream." She said, carefully.

"Too vague." His voice had a horrible sing-song quality to it.

 _(Goddamnit again. If he_ didn't _create the dream, then he'll know… He'll know I dreamed about him. About_ dancing _with him. And Sarah, he will_ love _that. But… But I can't get him to answer without telling him! And… Fuck it. I want to know.)_

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her inner squirming. "I had a dream about a… A ballroom. And then you were there." _(Good. Keep it general. Both of those things are true.)_ "So, if you… Created the dream, I wanted to know… Why you made a ball. A dance. To distract me. Why you chose _that_ instead of just… Anything else. And why you'd put yourself in it, if you really wanted me to be distracted from… From the Labyrinth, from Toby, from winning."

"Were you not distracted? Did you not forget?" His voice was a purr in her ear.

 _(Stop that.)_ She glared back up at him. "Well - for a bit. But you could've just - I don't know, done anything else. You could've given me a dream that - made me think I had Toby! Made me think I'd solved the Labyrinth! Something! Anything else!"

He reached another fork, considering. They went down the middle, a tighter path. "Compelling considerations, but if you'll recall, _I_ asked you to elaborate on a certain idea you had."

 _(He's scolding me now. Trying to goad me into answer.)_ Sarah spoke quickly, in a rush. "The idea was maybe, I don't know, you - you know, you just - maybe you just wanted to dance. Instead of making a real diversion."

 _(Good. Vague. You didn't say you were dancing_ with _him, so -)_

He turned a corner and the path spiked, steeply downhill. He paused, then pushed off, fast, and they shot forward, the wind breezing past them, her breath catching in her chest. He twisted sharply right at the bottom, spinning them to a stop. Sarah gasped, rigid, as he laughed.

"You - that's -" She tottered in place, her brain trying to catch up with their sudden burst of speed. "That's not fair! Cheater! You didn't answer me! You -"

"I controlled the dream."

"You - oh." _(Uh.)_ He'd admitted it. Her mind couldn't quite process the information, scrambling. _(Ok… Cool. I think. Um. But wait. That wasn't even my question! I mean it was, but -)_ "So - so - why - why you'd risk me remembering!? By seeing you!?"

"I enjoy dancing. You didn't seem to disagree, if I recall."

"So… But…" He'd _really_ admitted it. She hadn't… Quite been prepared for this. Now she had his answer, and even more questions popped up.

 _(But you could have… Danced with anyone there! Why me? Why did you do that, Goblin King? Was it about distracting me? Did you really just want to dance? Or was it about… I don't know. What was the motivation?)_

She felt his eyes on her. With every question she had, he was going to have another ready for her. _'What would it mean if I controlled your dream?' 'Why do you want to know?' Worst of all, the dreaded 'Why Do You Care So Much?'_

 _(Why_ do _you care so much, Sarah?)_

 _(I don't - I don't_ care, _I just - it's not_ super _important, it's… I just wondered.)_

 _(Wondered over and over and over again, at 3 in the morning? Thought about it until you almost - almost - dreamed about it? Obsessed over each detail -)_

 _(I didn't obsess! I… It just didn't make sense, and it still doesn't -)_

She realized he was… Pausing. Waiting for her to continue her sentence. Trying to push her further.

 _(I'm not ready for another battle. Whatever. It doesn't matter. It never mattered. Let it go, Williams.)_ She looked at the ground, and her feet. _(Which is where I should have been concentrating the whole time.)_ "I'm not getting all the answers, clearly. Nevermind."

"Not if you don't ask the right questions." His voice was so quiet, Sarah thought she'd misheard it. She waited, pausing, but he didn't repeat it.

 _(I have no idea what the right questions are or are supposed to be. I have plenty, but I don't know what's right and wrong by his standards, and he's certainly not helping.)_ She bit her tongue, frustrated, and let the silence take over.

He pushed forward and the path zigzagged, dotted and lined with crystals. The ice went uphill and down, and Sarah panted, trying to keep up with him as the ground snaked in dips and tilts, causing them to go faster and slower in turns. She'd never been good at skiing, and was bitterly reminded of this fact as they progressed. He, on the other hand, was practically a penguin. He matched her every awkward move on the ice with a steady hand and a push or a pull, moving her forward despite her body rebelling and struggling against them both. It would've almost been fun, had she not been afraid of falling, her balance, and it being… Him.

 _(This is so weird. Skating. Holding hands and skating through a Labyrinth with… Him. It's not even… I understand him a little, now. A fraction of a little, but he's not… Not terrible. He's…)_

 _(What? A friend? A bosom companion? Please.)_

 _(Well, I don't know… How to define… This. But I trust him.)_

 _(Do I?)_

She glanced at her hand, tightly enveloped in his.

 _(Enough. I trust him enough._

 _I think._

 _Well, it's not like I have a lot of options. But still.)_

 _(His hand is on my waist, too.)_ She realized quietly. _(When did that happen? Probably after he shoved me downhill. How did I not notice that? And when did I get comfortable enough with him that I… Didn't notice? That I just… Accepted his touch?_

 _I… Don't know. Like I have answers for any of these! In fact, when did I start trusting him at all? When did I start thinking of him as… Not an enemy?)_

She frowned at the ground, not really seeing it.

 _(I -)_

They rounded a corner and the temperature _dropped._ Sarah felt like she'd been slapped the face by the cold. She gasped, her breath shooting out in a giant cloud. It was painful to breathe, the icy air creating a sharpness in her nose and lungs, even with the cloak. He stopped, holding her back.

She looked up at him. "Feel that?"

"Indeed." His brow was back in that familiar furrow.

"So we're - going in the right direction?"

"Indeed."

"Of course we are." She mumbled. _(Of course it gets colder the further in we go. Whatever's down this road is the challenge of this Labyrinth. Yeti, ice people, Jack Frost, death popsicles, Jadis, this is it. At least whatever's coming isn't popping out yet._

 _Hell, maybe it's_ just _a temperature drop. Maybe the challenge is not freezing to death.)_

 _(Ha. As if it's gonna be that easy.)_

"Ready?" His hands gripped her.

"Uh… As I'll ever be." She narrowed her eyes.


	19. Breaking the Ice

A/N: A MOST HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL WHO PARTAKE IN THIS GLORIOUS HOLIDAY! GREAT PUMPKIN BE PRAISED! I'll be posting a new chapter on the day of, so this won't be a giant angst-cliffhanger (ok it will be but there'll be SOME answers soon!) Also, for anyone wondering if the characters are "getting anywhere" no. Nope. Remember back when I would write things like 'buckle up we got a ways to go' and 'bail while you can'? I wasn't kidding. We're about halfway thru. So technically they ARE getting somewhere... But not strap in and tag along! ANYWAYS, thank you as always for the kind words and follows, good luck on your holiday plans, and I'll be posting next week! HAIL GREAT PUMPKIN!

 **Breaking the Ice**

"Ready?" His hands gripped her.

"Uh… As I'll ever be." Sarah narrowed her eyes, glancing at the - _the crystals._ "Look! They changed color!"

He glanced outward with her as they moved. "They… Have. Yes."

The crystals cast light, _real_ light, more than blue and grey, now there were pastel pinks and greens, glowing and creating refracting beams. It was… Pretty.

"Wow." She breathed.

"Quite."

"What is this, you think? The end of the Labyrinth? Another gate entrance thing!?" She twisted to look up at him, grinning, her own enthusiasm throwing her off. _(I'm kind of good at those.)_

"I don't think we're getting that close, but even if we were, don't try anything without warning -" He began hastily.

 _(Ah yes, my brilliant idea with the wishing well.)_ "Again, I didn't know that was going to happen! I have no idea if any of my ideas will work! I'm not an expert here!"

"… You seemed to do as well in the first Labyrinth, even with my discouragement." He remarked.

"Your _discouragement?_ You mean cheating!" Sarah glared.

He looked around, suddenly taking great interest in the crystals. "I never cheated. I simply made it harder for you to win. Which proved to be a smart idea. If it had succeeded."

"Glad that worked out for you, saboteur." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, in my defense, you did beat them."

"With help!"

"Still."

She held in her exasperated sigh. _(Give it up, Williams.)_ Besides, she was more concerned with the crystals and the sudden chill, trying not to shiver against his arms. _(It's freezing in here, like_ really _freezing, and now the crystals are changing color. That's got to mean something. It's about to get a lot harder, soon…)_

They reached a prong in the road as he considered the right and left carefully.

"One feel better to you?" To her, both paths looked identical, but she didn't want to waste time standing still in freezing temperature if she could help it.

"Not particularly, but they both appear to be level. So let's try something new." He regarded her.

"I don't think carrying me is a good -" She started, but he moved in front and grabbed her hands as he glanced casually over his shoulder, and then began pulling her, his face stretching into that familiar grin. They were skating hand in hand as he faced her, guiding them forward.

 _(Backwards. This fucker is ice-skating backwards.)_ "You're enjoying this, aren't you." Sarah panted.

He stopped and she almost crashed into him. Head tilted sideways, he peered into her shocked face. "You aren't?"

"Ow! What? Enjoying this? Well, you know. Maybe when I'm not, oh, falling on ice, dying a little, or getting trapped by mirrors and mushrooms and -"

"Why… Did you come back?" He looked at her, all traces of a grin fading.

 _(Shit. No. Wait. What?)_ "I - I came back because… Because I missed… People."

"People." He repeated back to her.

"Yeah, Ludo, Hoggle, Sir Didymus…"

"Just those, then."

"I mean…" She blinked, bewildered. "No, I missed… I… You're…" _(What does this have to do with anything? What do you want!?)_

She stared at him, wanting to reach out and do - something, anything besides look at a masked expression she couldn't read, a riddle disguised in teasing, a smirk that covered whatever he _didn't_ do or say -

He righted the angle of his head. "Perhaps you were missed as well. By… _People._ "

"What -" She began, but then crystals behind him caught her eye. They flickered briefly, catching the light, refracting the different colors, but these were brighter and Sarah lost her train of thought, enticed. "Look!" She gasped, pointing with both their hands.

He followed her gaze, frowning, and began moving them towards the glow.

 _(Ok. Get ready. Whatever the challenge is, its over there.)_ Her breath came out in excited clouds of puffs. _(Is it leading us in the right direction? No, it can't be that easy. The wrong direction? Trying to mislead us? No, that can't be it either, I think he'd feel it. Crystals crystals crystals crystals…)_ Sarah's mind whirred. _(Crystals are used by gnomes, dwarves… Fairies like them a lot… A certain elf I know -)_ "Why do you like crystals so much?" She tore her eyes away from the colors to look at him.

"Why do you like food?" He replied lazily.

"Really? You need it to live?"

"No. It's more… They can be used for power."

"And because they're sparkly, right?" He didn't respond. "Right?" She grinned into the silence. They reached another prong and went right, the crystals still glimmering just ahead, catching the light oddly even up close, almost -

The unearthly colors drew Sarah in. They were hypnotic, like slow-moving fireworks. She scrabbled, trying to make them move faster, wanting to get closer. They finally reached the flickering lights and stopped. He moved her away, reaching out his hand towards them -

"Careful!" She whispered.

His fingers grazed the surface of one and lights sparked all around, sprinting throughout the place in a strobing array. Sarah grabbed his hand back as they flashed and reflected.

 _(Idiot.)_ "Are you alright!?" She flipped his wrist over.

"I'm fine, I assure you." He frowned at the room, fingers curling back over hers. "I'm more concerned with -"

The lights died out, leaving them in sudden grey gloom. The crystals here were so large that almost no outside light filtered in through them, and she shivered.

"Troubling." His frown increased.

"Did you - what'd you do? Magic, or -"

He shook his head. "I did nothing."

Sarah inhaled, the cold stinging her nose. Nothing else was happening. _(Should we touch it again? No, that seems like a really stupid idea. Ok, that definitely did_ something _. Do the crystals - are they going to attack us or, or… Or fall?)_

She glanced uneasily at the ceiling, but nothing seemed to be cracking. She turned back, watching, waiting, looking -

 _(movement.)_

Sarah froze, silently squeezing his hand to get his attention. It had been a flash, a flicker, just to their right, around the corner.

"Did you see that?" She whispered, her breath coming out in short wisps.

"Where?"

"Something moved - over there -"

He motioned for her to stay, sliding forward towards where her gesture had been, and he peered around, leaning up against some of the bigger crystals. He searched, looking, and then paused.

"Ah. How intriguing." His body blocked the view.

"What? What is it?" She slid towards him, grabbing his shoulder for balance, her heart racing. He moved aside a little, revealing -

Light. And a new path, but this one was pulsing slowly, crystals changing colors as they revealed…

"That's - you!" She gasped.

It was him, or an image of him. Several images, actually, of the same scene, from different angles, all trapped in the crystals, but they all showed the same identical, pulsating, eerily-lit thing: the Goblin King, in a chair. A throne, to be exact. The one in the Goblin City, and there he was, surrounded by goblins.

"What - what is this?" Sarah breathed, mesmerized.

"Crystals. Just crystals. But -"

She looked away, remembering something. _(An image, playing in a crystal…)_ She caught it. "Oh my god! This - I know this! This _is_ what you use! These are - your orb thingies!"

He looked at her, eyebrow raised, aloof. "They are not _orb thingies,_ they help me -"

"I know, sorry, I just - how does it work?" She got closer, touching one, the light coming through her spread fingers. "These are what you use, right? The same material? When you juggle, when you transform things -"

The tiny Goblin King looked bored, no matter the angle. The crystal blurred slightly and then started over, replaying.

"Huh…" She leaned in closer, but he pulled her back.

"We need to keep moving."

"But shouldn't we inspect -"

"It's not going to change." He gently took her hands and she sighed, relinquishing so he could pull her forward. They continued away from the lights, Sarah frowning.

 _(What was that? Just a random image in a crystal? It can't be that easy - maybe we should go back -)_ She opened her mouth to voice this exact thought when -

Flash. Another crystal to their left.

"There! Look!"

It was light, buried behind another row of crystals. He frowned, then pulled them around, slipping down a path of zigzags, moving slowly, the glow growing brighter and brighter as they rounded the corners coming closer -

 _There._

They up pulled beside as it lit up, revealing a younger Sarah with her baby brother, laughing. The same angles, the same lighting, but it was her, playing and holding him, it was -

 _"Toby."_ Sarah breathed, crouching, trying to get closer to see her baby brother's face.

"You look happy there."

She glanced up, a smirk briefly playing around on his lips as he observed.

"Yeah…" She turned back as the crystal blurred, resetting. Toby, laughing, Sarah, playing. "So - so what are these? Memories? Do all of them do that? Your… Orbs included?" She looked around at the other crystals, but they didn't seem to be joining in the light parade.

" _Mine_ are capable of much more, but these… Yes. It would appear so."

"Can yours show memories?" She smirked at him.

"Of course. I just choose not to use them for such _trivial_ matters. Generally."

"Ok, so… We have to figure out what the clues are then, to getting out of here. It must have something to do with these." She gestured around, and another crystal lit up as she pointed. "Come on!"

She grabbed his hands, laughing against the cold, trying to both pull him forward and not slip. He returned her grin even as he shook his head, reversing their positions so he could guide them.

 _(This is - )_

 _(Fun? No. No, this is not fun. I am freezing. He is - being himself. This isn't fun, this is trying not to die. )_

 _(But I like finding them. And he's not being horrible. What would you call this?)_

 _(I'd call it… Shutting up. And focusing. And… Not dying. Ok?)_

He glanced behind, then whipped them around the corner, pulling her slightly towards the light. They spiraled to the left, a pink glow spilling forth as they reached another patch, this one showing - Sarah again. She was dancing, singing in her room, younger, around 17.

 _(Thank god there's no sound. I have no idea what song I was bellowing but I was definitely going for it full-force.)_

His face was split into a maniacal grin. "What a clue that is. Perhaps we should _sing_ to get out of here?"

"Shut it." Her cheeks were burning, despite the cold.

He inspected the crystal up close, giving that ghost of a laugh.

"Yeah, ok, I'm hilarious." _(And mortified.)_ "Look!" She tugged his reluctant hand further down the path, towards another glint she'd seen. "Aha! Here's you!" She slid, staring eagerly, hoping to see something equally stupid that _he_ was doing (preferably also singing, though knowing him, he'd probably look fantastic somehow), -

The crystals showed him sitting in the same castle room again, looking bored. The goblins carried on as usual.

"This… Is the same. Are they repeating?" _(They can't be. Toby and me singing and only one of his? Plus that's a different outfit than the last one, I think -)_ "Or are you controlling these?" She looked at him accusingly.

"No… This is a king, ruling his kingdom. Fascinating, isn't it." The sarcasm dripped from his voice. Sarah looked around for more, frowning. There, a few feet away. She scooted over.

It was him, walking in the ruins. The ruins where she'd - the ruins where she'd chosen. _(No, where I won.)_ Sarah swallowed. He just strolled around, observing. Eventually he twisted, transferring to the Escher room. Pacing. Twist. Throne room. Twist. Bog. Twist. Garden Labyrinth. Twist. Stones. Twist. Twist. Twist. Ruins again.

Sarah narrowed her eyes, looking at his face in the memory, but it was blank. Well, not completely vapid. It was his normal frown. But under it, he seemed…

"Why do you look so… Alone in all of these?"

"I am often bored." He half-shrugged.

 _(Bored isn't the word I used.)_ "All that power, all that magic, an entire kingdom to yourself?"

"Ah, well. I'm sure there'll turn up a memory of me unsticking a goblin from a wall, or fixing a turn in the Labyrinth or letting someone run through it and fall into a trap. Let's see another of yours."

"I can't control -" Another crystal flashed ahead. _(Shit._ _I hope it's not too embarrassing.)_

She shivered as he grabbed her from the back, pushing forward. Sarah spread her arms wide as they approached, trying to block his gaze from whatever incriminating memory the crystal was projecting, but he was taller and stronger against her sore muscles, chuckling in her ear as he lowered her arms easily.

 _(Please don't be stupid please don't be me doing something stupid -)_

They rounded the bend and Sarah was suddenly watching herself again. This time she wasn't with Toby, or even in her house; she was in some library, looking at books. Memory-Sarah ran her fingers across their spines, brow furrowed in concentration, then began pulling them off shelves, weighing down her arms as she stacked them until they were as high as her head.

"What are those -"

But Sarah already knew, heart sinking. "Fairy tales. They're all, um… Fairy tales."

Her past-self stumbled to the desk, books almost toppling over as the crystal blurred and started over.

 _(Thank god. Please don't show any more.)_

"Why did you feel an obligation to take the entire library with you?" He titled his head to the side.

"It was… I was… Studying. Reading, remember? I told you."

He turned towards her, a confused frown playing across his face.

She tried to laugh, but it sounded hollow even to her ears. "It's - not important, we need to look for -"

"Why do you look… So…" He leaned in closer to the ghostly image. "Tired?"

"No, I look - sick. I was feeling sick. That day." _(That week. Month. That year. You're seeing me when I… When you… Everything left. I don't want to do this with you. I don't want to relive this.)_ She looked down, the cold suddenly seeming harsher. "Let's - it's not important. Let's move on."

"But these images - are we being shown them for a reason?" He wouldn't stop _staring_ , inspecting her with two contrasting eagle eyes. "Why were you reading those - books?"

"Why did it show you chilling in the throne room!? I don't know! Like I said, it's not important! I was just… Researching. About - this stuff." She gestured around them. "In case… I don't know. In case I had to do - well, what I'm doing."

"Were you now." He turned to her and she caught something flicker across his face.

 _(What was that look? He looked… Apprehensive? Concerned?)_

 _(Maybe it was the crystals. Maybe it was the light.)_

 _(Just - fine. I'm fine with concern. It's fine. He can be concerned at me studying and looking a little sick. As long as he doesn't… Question it. Don't ask me any more about that memory. About that year. You don't need to see the rest of… That._

 _Even I don't want to see it, and I already know how it plays out.)_

She shivered again, the cold settling into her bones.

 _(What's the point of all these? What am I looking for? Is there something connecting? Maybe he's right, and there is a reason we're being shown these images, like a… Pattern. Mostly he looks bored in his. That's his pattern.)_

A new crystal mercifully lit up, and she pointed. "Over there!" _(Finally. Don't look at mine anymore. Let's see one of you being… Tired or bored or something.)_

She pulled him forward, towards the golden glow. It was farther ahead, the light blinking in the distance. They spiraled around a bit, and then went between two angular pillars before reaching it. He suddenly moved in front of her, pushing her back and trying to block her, but she just peered under him.

"What are you - that's my living room!" Sarah cried. "Wait a - what!?" The crystal showed him staring at the blank TV screen. "Why - what were you doing!?" She demanded. "In my house!?"

"I needed to see where my goblins were disappearing to. And they seemed to enjoy this box quite a bit. I took the liberty of inspecting it."

"I -" She couldn't believe he'd been in her house.

 _(My house!? Dear god, had he been in my room? Seen my stuffed animals, all stupid posters I used to have up? The mess I used to make - wait. Not just my house. He used to be everywhere, remember? All the times I saw a glimpse of an owl, heard his laugh in my ear, smelled him, saw his face or his hair at school or outside, just for a second?)_ She paused, considering. "So… You _were_ around me. Sometimes."

"Occasionally. I like seeing how certain subjects are faring over the years."

"You mean… Like… Glancing in at Toby."

He shrugged. "And the wishers."

"I knew it. I was right, you were - I _knew_ I saw you. Everywhere." _(I called it, back at the books. He_ was _there, I fucking knew it. If we were here another hour, I bet the crystals would show him all over my life.)_

"Everywhere? Goodness. I hardly have time to be in all those places at once. Are you sure you _really_ saw me, human?" He drew closer to her, trying to stare her down.

"I…" Sarah squinted at him, a fraction of hesitation on her tongue. _(Well it's not going to work. I'm too cold and too sure.)_ What had he said in the books? At the start of the Labyrinth? ' _Did you really see me?'_

 _'_ _I think so', she'd replied._

 _'_ _Perhaps you were just fantasizing about me'. He'd retorted._

 _(Not this time. I don't doubt myself.)_ She met his gaze. "Yeah." That smirk appeared again. It said… What did it say? _I know more than you?_ Something. She squared her shoulders, cheeks once again turning pink, but at least the cold kept it in small patches rather than her entire face. "I am. I know I saw you."

"Hmm." He tilted her head up with his bare arm, and his fingers were _ice._ Sarah gasped at the touch, and he removed his hand, quickly, but she caught it.

"You're freezing! Why're you freezing!?" She clutched at his fingers. _(And why didn't I notice his hands earlier!?)_

 _(Because my fingers are freezing too. It's just that my face isn't. Yet.)_

"It's gotten colder." He looked around the room.

"But you - you said that your temperature -"

"This place… Doesn't allow me to do that."

 _(Oh god.)_ And there it was. It _was_ getting colder, it wasn't just her. The more time they spent here, the colder they got. A freezing spell or something. There wasn't a pattern in the crystals, there was another distraction. She scrabbled at the cloak, her fingers scraping against the icy metal clasp. "Take this back -"

His hands closed around hers, stopping them. "No." He said it simply, but his grip was quite firm.

"But -"

"If we can get out, I'll have no need of it."

"But you're _freezing!"_

"And you're… A human. A hurt human, who won't last very long without that cloak, I imagine."

 _(_ S _tubborn son of a -)_ She grit her teeth, trying to glare him down, but he slid wordlessly behind her, moving them forward.

 _(Fine. Then work on getting him out of here. And you too, before you freeze. Maybe there is a clue here - the crystals. Sure, it's a distraction. But what are they showing you?)_

 _(The past.)_

 _(Right, the past. But…)_

 _(But only certain parts of the past.)_

 _(Are we supposed to be making a connection? Reliving something important? I don't -)_

Sarah took a deep, stinging breath, trying to concentrate. They wove down a path and she clutched at his hand, willing her body to generate heat into his. She stared into the silence, waiting for something to light up, giving another hint, and then -

A flash to her right. "Wait! Stop!" He halted them as she pointed. "Did you see that!?"

"I was… Concentrating on the path."

She looked up at his face, frowning. His pause had sounded… Like he was winded.

 _(No, like he's trying to not freeze. Focus up, Williams.)_ "I saw something - right next to us -" She turned back to look and then stopped, her breath escaping in a cloud. _All_ the crystals suddenly lit up, coming to life as she stared.

 _(But we've had to find them before - now they're just starting as we stand here?)_

She watched, fascinated -

The memories were her, but these were _recent._ Hours ago. Her, walking through the fake Labyrinth wall, her, writing in blood on the books, her, snatching the peach as the orchard crumbled around them, the mushrooms burning as she sliced with her bag buckle, the mirror shattering as she punched it, her hand throwing money into the well -

"What kind of clue is this?" Sarah breathed, looking closer. Wall, books, blood, orchard, peach, mushrooms, bag, mirror, well, -

They blurred and started over.

 _(Ok, so… Is there one where I'm solving this Labyrinth? Anything with crystals?)_

She glanced around, jaw starting to tense up again, but there was nothing but the previous Labyrinths playing out in front of her. "None of the other ones have been so recent…" She wheezed out, trying not to chatter, but he didn't respond. "Ok, that's weird. Let's… Let's go I guess -"

They went and she frowned, trying to connect the dots, not really looking, glaring at nothing and then -

The memories began to move with them. He halted as they played out, then slid forward again, picking up speed, but stopping once more as the memories flowed, traveling alongside them like a roving spotlight.

"What the -" Sarah's frown deepened. They were unchanging, just her, her against the Labyrinth, battling it, again and again before fading and starting over, a loop. "Why are they doing that…" She dropped his hand and touched one, but it didn't change.

 _(None of the others moved with us. Are these things I need to see? I didn't really need to see the other ones, did I? But… Ok, maybe these memories are super important…_

 _So… It's showing me what I need to see?)_

She looked back at him. "We should… Keep going…?" Her voice was uncertain, but there was no point in stopping, especially if the memories were going to follow them.

"I'm going to try to move us along faster."

"Good idea." Sarah swallowed, noting the goosebumps on his naked arm. They picked up some speed, but it just forced chilly air into her already cold face. She squinted against it, staring at her past as it played next to them.

 _(Ok, hurry the fuck up brain, get us out of here. What am I seeing. The order of the Labyrinth? The way we beat them? The way I -)_

 _(Maybe it's not 'what's in them', it's what's missing. Is something missing? No… I…)_

 _(Wait.)_

 _(He's not in these.)_

 _(Well, I mean, he is, but he's in the background, so… So…)_

 _(It's not the way we beat the Labyrinths… It's the way_ I _beat the Labyrinths? Is it something to do with_ me? _My methods? Is it how I did it? Is it…)_

She scanned for something that joined her previous memories together. _(Blood, peach, bag buckle, mirror, money… Combined? Is that a spell from something? No, I don't - maybe I know it from somewhere? Do I know -)_

 _(I mean… Well, I didn't_ know _any of those things, I just figured out what might work, which legend or whatever they belonged to, and I didn't know -)_

 _(But they_ did _work…_

 _They all… Worked. Everything I did…)_

She paused, biting her cold lips. _(But - but I didn't_ _know_ _they would work. I couldn't know - )_

 _(But they did. All of them. All of my crazy stupid ideas.)_

 _(Some of them didn't! I didn't get the well right on the first try, and -)_

 _(… But he didn't try at all. He didn't have any clue.)_

 _(So what?)_ Her brain was searching, reaching to connect something, anything.

 _(So… He's supposed to be in charge of this place, Sarah. He's supposed to know what's going on.)_

 _(… Right, but that doesn't matter, he lost his magic, he said it changed, I -)_

 _(… Why didn't he solve any of these? The only one he even knew a little about was the mushrooms and the mirrors, and he got those both wrong! To the point of us almost dying!)_

 _(… But I didn't. Why. I shouldn't have any idea about any of these things. Except that I did, because I… Well, I studied this. I read all those books, all those stories, trying to get back here.)_

 _(And he did say the magic had changed, had rebelled, he had no idea what we were going to find -)_

 _(… But… I do. I've gotten us through every part because… Because I know them. No, it's more than that, I know how to - to solve them.)_ She frowned, staring at the crystals, unseeing. The temperature was starting to come through the cloak now, but she couldn't concentrate on it.

 _(He lives here. He uses magic… So why doesn't he know any of these things?)_

 _(… Because he doesn't know fairy tales, he is one! He doesn't know all the things I do, the things I researched and -)_

 _(and there it is.)_

She caught her breath again, trying to understand the lightbulb in her brain that she couldn't quite figure out how to screw in.

 _(Why am I better at solving his Labyrinth than him?)_

She turned up towards him, but didn't look, not quite meeting his eyes, a question on her tongue that she didn't know how to form. They wove drunkenly through some low hanging crystals, and he slowed enough that she spoke, no longer fighting the cold breeze. "I…"

"What?" He looked down to her, scanning her face for an idea she might have.

"The Labyrinth…" She said it slowly, thoughts churning thickly in the cold. "When we were in the mirrors, you were talking about how you designed it. The Labyrinth. When you ruled it, you said that… You created it based off of your mind. Whatever you wanted."

"Yes."

"But now… Because I won… The magic is rebelling, changing the Labyrinth, making it unstable."

"Yes…"

"Then… Why did it form these things? These -" She waved their hands at the images. "These very specific - passages."

"I'm… Not completely certain."

"But…" The lightbulb clicked into place, slowly growing brighter in her mind, an angry harsh yellow. "The ruler of the Labyrinth… Gets to change how it looks, what it does."

"I… Yes, I suppose, though I haven't met very many rulers." He had bent over slightly, closer towards her quiet voice.

She looked sideways, watching his face as she tried to choose her words. "You… Said I couldn't rule it. The Labyrinth. Because I was a human."

"You can't. As a human."

"You said I broke it."

"I -"

She ran over his sentence, words going too fast for her brain. "You said, over and over again, that this wasn't _your_ Labyrinth, that it had _changed,_ that -"

"When you _won, -"_

 _"_ _When I won._ " The images started again around her, brighter it seemed, and she stared at them.

 _(What am I asking him? This is stupid. What is this challenge even? What are these crystals trying to prove?)_

 _(Well… There's nothing wrong with asking him_ … _And yet…)_ "I… _Won_ the Labyrinth. So… That makes me its _ruler…_ Doesn't it?"

Silence. They moved past the low crystals and into a wider space, a straight path that began sloping downwards as they went. She coughed against the chilly air, trying to clear her throat, voice shaky from uncertainness. "So… Is it… Possible… It's creating the Labyrinths… After the stories I know? After the books I read, the things I studied, the… After me?"

He stopped, dropping her hands and Sarah stumbled, heart lurching uncomfortably in the silence. She tried to turn back to him, settling for a half-pivot when her legs splayed awkwardly. "Is… Is that even possible?" She watched him from the corners of her eyes, waiting. Afraid.

 _(Of what? The truth? Don't I deserve to know?)_

 _(I don't know if I want to deserve… Whatever this might be.)_

He said nothing, her breath curling up between them like a screen of smoke.


	20. Crystalized Thought

A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's been a year since I uploaded this story! Enjoy the holiday, this chapter, and SUGAR! I CAN'T WAIT. I JUST WANT MINI MARSHMALLOWS AND CHOCOLATE AND GOD KNOWS WHAT ELSE. Am I the only one that thinks Labyrinth is a halloween movie? It just seems to fit the fall theme and the halloween spirit. That's be a good spinoff - a halloween Labyrinth short. Maybe next year! Anyhoo, good luck on your costumes! ALL HAIL THE GREAT PUMPKIN! Be safe kids. It's the perfect night for a horror movie setting to become real. And thank you - everyone that's aboard this journey!

 **Crystalized Thought**

"Why aren't you telling me I'm wrong." The cold and the anxiety were twisting a tight knot into her chest. "Why aren't you saying, that's ridiculous, silly human, you can't possibly be controlling _my_ kingdom, my - magical Labyrinth!"

"Because… I believe… Perhaps… You are correct." He still didn't look at her, facing the room, but his profile was… Unreadable. No expression besides the proud, haughty Goblin King, lit by the ghostly colors of her memories.

"No." She whirled, stumbling as she tried to face him fully. She hadn't wanted that answer; she'd wanted her answer. She'd wanted him to scoff at her, to tease her, to -

 _To tell me this isn't my fault._

Sarah bit down. "No, I couldn't have - I can't -" There was a horrible empty laugh bubbling up in her, one that was a false front for the larger, hot panic that suddenly threatened to erupt underneath. "I can't have - no! That - that doesn't make sense. I can't - I can't wave my arm and say I wish it were hot and suddenly we're in the desert!"

He folded his arms, against the cold or her questions she didn't know. "It doesn't work that way. You can't control this, and even if you could, it's still partially my kingdom. It's only feeding off of you. Off your… Stories. Ideas of it. What it should be."

"But… What!? I don't think it should be anything! Except what you had!"

He looked into crystals, their soft light giving him a glow that should've been angelic, had it not been for his suddenly hardened expression as he inspected them, addressing her. "It's not as conscious as that, especially with you, I believe. I'm not certain, but I… I suspect. It's just a Labyrinth, a Labyrinth that's making itself into… What did you call them? Fairy tales? It's turning itself into what you _think_ a fairy tale is. And taking… Some cue from me, from the land, from my power, it's trying to be everything at once and in the process it's become… Dangerous. Wild. What we've encountered thus far."

 _(He's… So calm about this. Measured. And he has all these answers, like he… He already…)_

A horrible question occurred to her, another that she didn't want answered, didn't want to ask, but it was choking her, she couldn't breathe under its weight, and it forced its way out of her mouth _._

"Did… Did you _know?_ " She stepped back, cold sinking into her with the sudden doubt.

His face was a shadow. "It shouldn't be possible. You're a human."

 _(That wasn't a no. He didn't say no.)_

"Why - why didn't you stop me?" Her voice was a whisper, spiraling out with her breath.

"Stop you?"

"You… Why didn't you stop me!? If you knew this is what was going to happen! This - this is your _house,_ this is your _job!_ How could you let me _win? Why_ did _you_ do this!? I was just supposed to get Toby back! I didn't -"

His eyes narrowed. " _Let_ you win? Let _you_ win? My dear girl, if I had suspected for a _second_ what would have occurred, what your little _adventure_ would cost my kingdom -"

"But how could you _not!?"_ Her voice was dangerously close to cracking. "How can _I_ have been the first to solve the Labyrinth!?"

"Not many people win _my Labyrinth,_ in case you hadn't guessed, and certainly not very many _humans,_ so I had no _idea_ what was going to occur. However, once my magic began to eventually drain, and my Labyrinth stopped… Responding, it became _abundantly_ clear that something wasn't in order. And then you just - … You reappeared, through _magic,_ magic which you shouldn't have, and -"

"I thought you meant like - the Labyrinth stopped working because I won, not like - like I was _subconsciously in control of it and forced everyone out!"_

He looked away again. "I thought… The same as well. Until… "

"Until when!? When did you know!?"

"After… The first… Few. I began to realize that you were… Explaining the logic, solving the obstacles, you knew the rules, and - "

She turned, mind reeling as her past played out over and over and over. "You knew and you didn't - why didn't you tell me."

"I did. At the start."

"That's not the _same!"_ Sarah whirled her stiff body towards him, her voice a high waver. "You just - you just _blamed_ me! Yelled at me and then _shoved_ me inside here! You never explained anything! You _never_ explain anything! You _stole_ my brother, but I wasn't supposed to take him back!? I -"

"You _asked_ that the child be taken -"

"- I control the Labyrinth and, and you tell me you knew the whole _time!?_ "

"I told you at the start and I didn't and it's not control -"

" - I broke your Labyrinth, but I don't even know _how!?"_

"You didn't brake it, you changed -"

"- You gave me this - this giant, huge adventure -" She paused, fighting to force down shallow breaths, her chest beginning to clench around her heart. "And then you tell me I wasn't meant to _win!?"_

"I -" He stared hard at the ground, avoiding her and her questions. "No. You weren't supposed to win. You were supposed to lose. To lose and -"

"And what!?" The weight of the silence crushed her, and her breath was ragged as hot, boiling anxiety started pushing against the slicing cold. "And _what_ , Goblin King? What aren't you saying? What else do you know!? Am I secretly a witch now!? Has Toby been a changeling this whole time!? Are you some sort of hologram!? _What!?"_

"No. Those aren't… You aren't asking the right questions." He looked back to her, his eyes - blazing. Sarah almost took a step back, but she held his gaze; his eyes weren't furious, they were dark, pulling in the shadows and trapping in the light, but his face was - wavering. Something was trying to break through, and it wasn't anger, it was -

"Why me." The words dropped unthinkingly from her tongue in the thick quiet, but they made him blink. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. She waited. "No? Ok. Then what else do I need to know? Or here's a better thought, and it's not even a question: _Tell me."_ Her eyes felt tight, like they were about to burst out tears or lasers or anything that would make him talk -

He hesitated. "I…"

The silence sunk down between them with the temperature.

"Fine." Sarah suddenly felt tired, holding back a wall of wrath and confusion and swirling uncomfortable hot feelings, trapped in her and the cold. His head was bowed. He didn't look small, he didn't look sad, he looked… Alone. "Keep me in the dark. Ignore me again. For another year, if you want. Obviously I did enough damage while I was away."

Her voice wavered, and she let it sink into silence rather than strain it to cracking, as it was dangerously close to doing.

 _(How could he not tell me?_

 _How is this my fault? How am I going to fix this? Why…_

 _Why did I even come back?)_

She shuddered against the ice and rush of adrenaline -

A darker flash caught her eye. No, it wasn't a flash. It was a flicker. The crystals were changing, images warping, the color draining into washed-out muted tones and shadows -

 _(No. No more. Please.)_

Flicker.

Sarah watched, horrified and unblinking, as her reflected face began to morph, the crystal's images warping into horribly familiar shapes and motions, the panic in her body becoming now an electrifying numb of dread, her stomach falling lower than her heart -

 _(No no no don't show this turn it off don't let him see -)_

Darkness. Sarah, lying in bed, with yet more library books, reading. Not reading, scanning, trying to memorize every word, the clock beside her reading 3:00am, greasy strands of hair falling in her face, the circles under her eyes making the red bloodshot of her sclera stand out even more. A pile of scribbled papers lay to her right, books and pens strewn across the bedspread.

Her breath caught in her chest, the wave of dread now stirring back in with the panic as she continued to watch.

Sarah, crying, standing in front of the mirror. Pulling at her skin as bones started to protrude, clothes falling off her body, eating and then her familiar face of nausea. Puking in a toilet, sitting in front of the mirror, throwing untouched food into the bushes outside, laying in front of the mirror, grabbing random objects like a demented raven, stones, sparkly earrings, Toby's yoyo. Staring at the mirror in the dark of night, her body a mess of angles sticking out from her pajamas, unlatching the window again and again, double and triple checking, getting food for a Sir Didymus that never came -

 _(Stop - not - don't do this I can't relive this again I can't - not in front of him please just - )_

Her vision swam with tears, brimming as she blinked them back. Everything was too clear and too blurry at the same time. She wanted to step forward and block the images from him but they were everywhere around them, and she couldn't seem to remember how to move, her feet frozen with her heart, her breath-

 _(I can't deal with this right now. I can't do this, I can't watch this, I can't let him see -)_

"What - are these." He spoke haltingly, like he was choking, forcing the words out. He stared around, and she could feel herself becoming pale, draining even against the temperature.

 _(Please, god, don't do this. Don't ask me to do this.)_ "Oh, these? This is, just… What happened. When I… Was trying to…" _(Come back. I was trying to come back, even if you think I shouldn't have.)_ "You know. When I was - alone." Sarah choked, her voice starting to break on the last word, but she bit her tongue and swallowed it down, covering with a shaky laugh. "Just… General, normal stuff. Over to the left we have me puking, cause I couldn't stomach food, then sleep deprivation, mild-to-severe depression, obsession over… Fairy tales, stories, anything magical, and finally there's me attempting to get in touch with anyone. Anything. Trying to…"

She was laughing, was near-babbling hysteria, but it was better than crying, anything was better than crying in front of him. There was that painfully cheerful tone, the one she'd forced so hard for a year, right back as if she'd never stopped using it. It grated on her ears, Sarah could feel the tenseness of her throat and knew how she sounded, but she pushed it harder because under that - under that was -

He took an unsure step, then stopped against a crystal, hand wrapping around it possessively as he watched her past-self unravel. "Why did you… Why do you look so…"

She didn't help him finish the sentence. _(Alone? Sad? You tell me. Three guesses, Mr. Goblin-I-am-often-bored-King.)_ Her face twisted into a forced smile of bravado that he didn't even look up to see. "We, um - don't need to focus on this."

"This… One… What is…" He leaned towards another crystal, one that showed Sarah snatching up objects, her eyes gleaming from lack of sleep and mania, as she stuffed them into the box, then unpacked it, laying it out in the darkness. Blur. Objects. In the box. Out of the box. Blur. Objects.

 _(Don't do this. Do not make me walk you through this. Please.)_ "It's not important, I already explained that, let's - forget it." Her voice rose even higher, a twist.

"Why were you - crying -" His voice trailed off, a soft tone that she couldn't stand. She wanted to punch it out of him, shove him aside and shatter the crystals, destroy the whole Labyrinth if need be, anything to stop this display of her shame and sadness -

"Why? Why? Really?" Sarah's voice strained out of her. She looked up at the gleaming ceiling, trying to avoid his tone and her memories. "Let's see… Everyone I loved, all my friends, completely disappeared without any warning, I didn't know if they were in trouble, if they hated me, if I did something to send them off, whatever. And then Didymus came back, just completely normal, just a _human_ dog, so any feeling of sanity I had left departed completely, and then… Then -" The lump was rising up in her throat, but she fought it, shaking, now with some frustration, some anger. "Then something happened - who knows what - but my body began to like, die? I think? On its own, I don't know, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, and I didn't know what to do -"

Now she was mad. Frustration needled its way into her words under everything. And sadness behind that, but she pushed it back, pushed it far away, because it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. She didn't need to keep talking.

"Look." His voice was quiet.

She didn't want to look. She didn't want to see any more. And she especially didn't want to cry.

"Look." It was even more quiet now. Almost a plea -

\- It didn't matter. There wasn't any more that she wanted to see. He moved towards her, grabbing her balled-up fist, his fingers like ice.

"Don't touch me -"

"Look."

"What!?" She almost spat it at him. "I already _lived_ that year, I don't want to keep -"

The crystals had changed again. He stared not at them, but at her as she resolutely avoided his eyes, looking into -

 _Him, sitting in a throne room. It was dirtier, darker, decrepitude, cobwebs and grime spattered on the walls. And he looked -_

unkept. His hair was long, uneven, a raggedy in-between stage of the layers he had now and the spikes he'd worn when she first met him. He held up an orb, but nothing flashed in it. He threw it against a wall and it shattered silently as he strode off, away from the room -

Flicker. Him, sitting in the ruins, alone, staring.

Flicker. The city, filled with clamoring goblins, but he just looked straight ahead, eyes dark. Flicker. He poured over books, papers, scrolls. Flicker. He walked amongst the Labyrinth, kicking at stray scrawny chickens, touching his hands to the walls, searching. He paced the Escher room, the steps beginning to crumble, he watched as the bog began to dry, stared at a dark and cloudy sky, looked into a large mirror, a hand pressed against it hard enough to crack the surface -

"What am I seeing." Sarah stared dully ahead.

"This is when I - when I lost control of the Labyrinth. When it broke."

 _(When it broke.)_

She let the sentence sink into her ears until she could taste the bitterness of it on her tongue.

"When I broke it, you mean?" Sarah watched him. Was this supposed to make her feel better? He looked at her, opening his mouth, but she didn't let him speak. She pulled her hand away, moved away, trying not to completely lose any control she had left. "When _I_ broke it, because I _won._ Because you _choose me_ and I _won._ Because _I_ destroyed the - the connection or whatever, because _I_ messed everything up, I -"

"It wasn't that - I -" He leaned against the crystals as he gestured at the images. "I'm trying to - I was not my usual self. Like you, I was… Affected by your absence."

"Ab- _absence_? You… You _left me._ All this was going on, but… You forced yourself into my life and then you _left_ and you never looked back, and I… I didn't know I had _broken_ this place, I didn't know I shouldn't have _won_ , I didn't know I _destroyed everything and took away your magic_ or - or whatever! But how - how could I even help you if I was - was -" _(abandoned)_ "I was waiting for something but nothing was there!? Nothing was _ever_ there! Just me, me trying to reach out and grab something that didn't _exist_ anymore! And I didn't know what happened! I didn't know if you were alive or _dead!_ Or if you even were _real_ , if somehow maybe _stupid,_ _insane_ Sarah had _dreamed_ this up! So I'm _sorry,_ that I ruined it all! That I broke it! I'm _sorry_ that I fucked everything and we keep having to do all this! And I know that I keep almost dying and slowing us down, and we're stuck here, freezing, but you never - you never even tried to _tell me!_ And I - I needed -"

"What?" His word was a whisper.

 _"_ _I needed you!"_ Something hurt, the cold against her throat had finally reached her chest or something, but it felt like she was tearing from the inside out. "I _needed you!_ I needed _help!_ I needed _something, anything! Everything_ was _gone_ and I was left _behind_ and you. _Weren't. There!"_

She didn't have enough air for the volume she wanted. She had to scream it through him, into him, he needed to feel what she'd felt for a year, all of it, all at once. He wanted to know so badly? She would make him _feel it. "I WANTED YOU TO BE THERE!"_

"You needed… Me." His eyes widened, then shifted, looking down. He was thinking, considering - "You _missed_ me."

"That's - what - you're - _getting_ from this?" She choked on her own anger.

He looked back up. "You… Did. But that's not - wait, let me explain, I -"

"You what? What!?" The tears were back in her eyes, and she was using as much gravity and every muscle she could to keep them in. His face was a blur, a fuzzy block of silver and peach colors. Her voice finally shredded as she forced it from freezing lips. "You knew what was happening, but you couldn't bother to come and get me, to try to just ask me for help, to tell me I should've come back and fixed things before it was too late, you just sat in your rotting Labyrinth while I -"

"Of course not, I tried to tell you, to find you, to speak to you -"

"Did you?" She backed up. "By ignoring me for a year? By taking everyone away? There was no sign, no message, _nothing_ \- god, I'm such an _idiot,_ I spent night after night just - just doing everything, _anything,_ stupid stuff, spells, diagrams, studying stories and reading impossible tales and not only did that completely corrupt this place into a - a - a giant warped fairytale pileup, but now I realize, maybe I should've just - just stayed _away!_ And let the Labyrinth not turn into a giant _death trap!_ But no. I came back, because I'm - because I was alone, I waited, and I wished… God, I _wished_ …"

"For what." His eyes sparked at her, seeming to push her on, provoking her.

"Whatever. Nothing. I'm done. Let's just - just get out of here." She spun around, almost but not quite slipping. She'd forgotten about the floor, but she tried her best to just move blindly away from him, push out the memories, the feelings that were there, the betrayal and the abandonment and mostly the crippling, defeating, aloneness she felt.

"Wait -"

She didn't respond. Not because she didn't want to, but because she knew her voice would break, would fully crack, and then she would crack and everything would spill out. She just got as far away as she could, staring at out at nothing, trying to become colder, trying to feel the iciness.

Feel nothing, be nothing. Just be empty, just be cold, like the ice.

She went slowly, every ounce of focus going towards her hands, which she pressed against the crystals despite the cold, pulling herself forward, arms in dull agony, her muscles remembering the well, the mushrooms, everything she'd fought and strained against in the past hours. She didn't look back at him, she couldn't, didn't want to see his stupid face, his cold eyes - he could catch up, is what he could do. Or freeze. She didn't want to care.

Didn't want to care about _him._ About what he should've done, about his stupid excuses, his…

 _(What the fuck did I say to him? That I needed him? I'm a moron. Need him? I never needed anything. I did all this myself. And what did he need, Sarah?)_

 _(His Labyrinth. While I was dying or whatever, he was focused on his precious Labyrinth, couldn't give an iota of a fuck to try to talk to me, to tell me and get me, the person who did all this, the person who made the mistake of caring, for some stupid, stupid reason… I never knew him, and I was an idiot to think I did, to think he might find me interesting enough to come and get me, even while his kingdom was crumbling… But no. I'm just a stupid human, and not only that, I'm the one who broke it.)_

 _(I just can't believe that I thought I had the right to forget that.)_

She took another hurtful breath.

 _(So now while you're freezing you decide to bring all this up? Scream out every frustration at him and use up all your energy? Yell at the one person getting you through this mess?)_

 _(Getting you through because it's what he needs to fix this Labyrinth - that you wrecked -)_

No. Time to shut that voice out. Time to shut all of it out. Time to get out of here.

Review what was there.

Crystals. Frozen. Memories.

 _(Hurt. Alone. Wishing. He never -)_

No. Not that. Memories. Crystals.

She'd already gone over crystals. She felt like she'd been over all of it already, every inch - Sarah forced another breath down, hugging herself against the cold, resting her arms for a moment. The air was hard to breathe, cutting into her lungs as she took it in.

 _(So tired. God, I just want it all to… I just want…)_

 _(You just want to leave. The Labyrinth is trying to make me mad and sad and confused. Confused. Why would it make me feel like that. So I couldn't solve… What? The answer? Is the answer here?)_

 _(Of course it is. It's your Labyrinth. This cave is making you see things that cause pain, making you argue with him, and if you want that to stop, you need to get out. So figure this out. Go through it.)_

 _(What haven't I gone through.)_

 _(Crystals.)_

 _(Wait. These are crystals, but -)_ She looked around warily. _(These aren't just crystal crystals. They're also…_

 _Ice.)_

 _(Ice?)_

 _(Ice crystals. So… Ice. Ice in fairy tales… Snow… Well, there's Narnia, the Little Matchstick Girl… Should I light a fire? That seems… Like it has nothing to do with the crystals. Maybe if we were stuck in the snow, but a crystal cave? There's the Snow Maiden… Snow Maiden… None of these have to do with_ ice! _)_

"Are you -"

She heard him moving across the floor and pushed herself forward again.

"No, just -"

 _(Leave me alone. Like you did before. Like you -)_

 _(No, come on. Focus. Ice. Ice. Ice. Ice crystals.)_

 _(I can't talk to him. I can't.)_

The path branched and she went right, blindly, pulling herself along as fast as she could, arms burning.

"Wait -"

She hit a dead end, instantly. _(Goddamnit.)_ It looked like a small room, the crystals weaving together. Sarah grit her teeth against the freezing temperature and her frustration. Now she was going to have to face him, face him and be wrong, and -

He was behind her, she could feel it. She turned around, staring at the floor, avoiding him, trying to get back outside -

"Just… Wait."

She glared at the ground, unspeaking.

"This… Is the right… Way. I should -"

"Oh." She managed, teeth chattering. Her whole body was shaking, but she slowly turned back to face the dead end.

"I need to tell -"

"I don't want to hear that right now. I have to focus. On solving… My Labyrinth." She tried to put as much venom and indifference into the words and her tone as she could. Mostly she sounded cold.

 _(Ok. The end is here. Fuck it. Where's the fucking memory.)_

She heard a slight huff as he stared at the room, holding himself. She took a few steps forward, waiting for the flicker, the dim col-

crunch.

 _(What?)_

Sarah looked down. There were crystal shards. She knelt, picking a few of them up, gently. Crystal shards? On the ground? That… Were they going to fall on them? The entire cave collapsing in? She turned her stiff neck to the ceiling, but nothing trembled or cracked.

 _(Ok then.)_

This.

This had to be it.

 _(What are these pieces of? What do they go to? It's a crystal.)_

 _(So why is it broken?)_

 _(A broken memory?)_

She tried fitting two of the larger ones together. They held. _(Ok.)_ That was something. An ice puzzle. A broken crystal. She worked with stiff fingers, slowly attempting to fit them into place, one by one. They refused to match, not quite fitting, fighting her hands, but - she almost had it -

She forced it together, nearly crushing it, and the crystal flashed to life, blinding her with a bright light. Sarah saw her face, cracked and distorted -

\- startled, she dropped it. It burst back apart.

 _(I can't watch anymore memories.)_

 _…_ _But what if it's showing you how to solve the Labyrinth?_

She blew on her hands. Between freezing and watching herself relive her past, freezing was seeming pretty good. There was a shuddering cough from behind her. He was leaning against a crystal, hunched, watching the walls.

 _(He's not leaning, he's - slumping against it. Like for support. That doesn't seem… Like him.)_

 _(Well, maybe he's tired of fighting with you.)_

 _(Fighting with me!? I didn't - he -)_

 _(Or -_ maybe _\- just maybe - he's cold.)_

 _(He's freezing. So am I.)_

She swallowed, throat dry. She was so - angry didn't feel like the right word, it _wasn't_ the right word, but you couldn't be _sad_ at someone, she just wanted him to feel like she'd felt, to know every inch of what her life had been like while he sat, trying to fix a Labyrinth that somehow _she'd_ broken -

 _(Not important. Focus.)_

Sarah rubbed her hands together and tried again. Once more the crystal sprang to life, cracked shards lighting up, but it burst apart in her hands after a few seconds. All she'd seen was her face.

She stared at the shards, trying not to stamp the pieces to bits in frustration. Not that she had the energy to do so, but… She picked it up again, but now her hands were so cold her fingers couldn't even work the smaller pieces together.

Sarah bit her frozen lip, and gathered the pieces up. She needed help.

 _(What do I say? Hey man, I kind of hate you right now but also fix this.)_ "I -" She stared at the floor, her voice choking out. Speaking hurt. "This - I need… Help."

 _Thunk._

Thunk? Thunk? Thunk wasn't… The response she'd expected. Thunk - ice didn't make a sound like that, a sound like a dull muffled object hitting the -

He was on the ground, crumpled.

 _(Oh god.)_

She suddenly couldn't move fast enough, legs slipping everywhere, and she was on the ground with him, on the ground but he wasn't moving, hair spilling out around him like a white halo, his eyes open but unseeing. She hadn't really looked at him, hadn't been able to see him through her brimming tears, and his lips were a horrible purple color, his skin not so much pale as a stark white. The tip of an ear poked out and it was a delicate lilac -

 _"_ _Fuck!"_ She scrabbled, crawling towards him, not fast enough, never fast enough, throwing her body, struggling to cross the stupid few feet that divided them, the space she'd created to try get away. He was trying to talk, but only puffs were escaping his violet lips.

 _(Why - what do I do. What do I do! He's freezing, think, think! We're both freezing but - no, he's freezing first, before me. How is that possible. Why. He's magical, he's never been this cold before, why is it only happening now to him and not to me - because - because I have the cloak! The stupid - )_

Her fingers fought against the clasp and her bag strap as it tangled together and she ripped it off her head, throwing it over him, trying to cover everything as the cold hit her in the stomach like a kick, and she instantly locked up. His eyes found hers and he tried to force the fabric back at her even as she pined it down to him.

"I… Wanted… To -" He began -

"Just - just s-s-shut up." _(Shut up and stay alive, come on, please. I'm sorry. I'm sorry and I'm still mad but I can't - you can't go like that. I'm still mad at you, you don't get to leave. Stay alive.)_ "I'm g-going to g-get us out, ok? I - I m-might h-have m-messed up-p b-but I c-c-can also f-f-fix it-t. W-we can a-ar-gue and s-s-shit later." She fought down a breath. _(I created the Labyrinth, right? This Labyrinth. I must know how to beat this one. This stupid crystal is a clue. It has to be.)_ "I - I n-n-ne-need - t-this to g-g-go t-together. M-my f-f-fingers c-c-can't - I-it's - h-how w-were g-getting out." _(I hope.)_ Sarah tried to force some optimism into her voice, but it was broken apart against the chattering as she showed him the broken crystal, piecing them together as much as she could. Without the cloak, her hands were almost numb, her fingers barely connecting the shards.

"It… Goes this… Way…" He wriggled, cupping her hands, picking the pieces out of them, fitting the crystal together. But it wasn't a crystal. It was an orb.

"B-but -" She watched him. "That's im-mposs-s -" _(The pieces shouldn't fit that way together! No wonder I couldn't get it! That's cheating!)_

"…There." He sank back, his hands still clutching hers as he tried to speak. "Now, I -"

"D-d-on't - t-talk! I'll g-get us out. I - p-p-promise. S-stay a-awake." She looked down at the crystal. (Ok. A crystal. Why isn't it lightning up. And why is it an orb.)

 _(It's not lighting up.)_

She panicked, shaking it.

 _(What the fuck!? No no no -)_

 _(Think, Williams. Think. He could put it together, not you. It was a puzzle that he knew.)_

 _(But this is my Labyrinth. Why could he put it together?)_

 _(Because he knew the puzzle.)_

 _(A puzzle in ice, in an ice room, crystals… Crystals that showed horrible painful memories and some ok ones, and the past…_

 _A puzzle… A puzzle that was supposed to go together…)_

 _(Why couldn't I get it?)_ She glared at it, eyes hurting against the cold. _(I'm supposed to be in charge, I'm supposed to know this, and I thought it was supposed to be a crystal, but he made it into an orb -)_

 _(A puzzle that only he knew… In the ice… Something that I couldn't see, even when it's right in front of me… Because I was too cold and too angry to see it…)_

A puzzle in ice, in snow and ice, crystals and memories and puzzles -

 _(What story are you, what legend… I know you I know you I know -)_

"The Ice Q-queen!" Sarah breathed. "T-the Ice Q-queen m-made an im-p-possible p-puzzle for the b-bewitched-d b-boy Kay, and only the l-little girl G-g-gerda, his t-true love, k-knew h-how t-to put it t-together so h-he c-could s-see the a-answer! T-that has to b-be it!" _(Please. Let it be it.)_ "Ok." _(I'm - he put it together, which makes me… The little boy in the story. Kay. He couldn't see the answer until the Gerda showed him, and Kay accepted her. So…)_ She held the crystal up. "W-what do I n-need to s-see?"


	21. What Happened Afterwards

Annnnd I'm back! And a little bit of resolve? Or at least a character mini-arc-realization? Who knows. Halloween took me a full week to recover but it was fun. I 1000% overdid it on about every level possible. My candy hangover cannot be described with words. Thank you for all the kind words and reviews! There were a lot of them! Toby is fine, btw. Time is always slower in Sarah's world when she's in the Labyrinth, so everything back home is A-Ok. As for the rest of the concerns... I have a lot of words written but we are halfway through to the end/answers/S+J angst ending! (Seriously though there's a lot more story AND I'M NOT SORRY ABOUT IT) Good luck y'all. And THANK YOU, as always!  


 **What Happened Afterwards**

It sprang to life, lighting up again, and she almost dropped it in surprise as a vision of herself appeared, her face, in a crowd. But it was a much younger Sarah, wearing -

She was wandering, in a dress. She was too little in a grown-ups world, completely lost. She watched herself, twirling, as warped faces and warped bodies swam around her -

Sarah held the orb closer, looking deep.

\- Wearing the gown. It was the ball. The dance. Her heart jolted.

 _(This? This is how I'm solving the Labyrinth? Always back to this…)_

It was every princess fantasy… _Every dream I ever wanted…_

But she hadn't felt what she wanted to feel. She hadn't felt grown up. She hadn't felt special. Or happy. She'd just been lost, and afraid, and naive, and -

 _(This again? but I remember this, we just talked about this, and I've thought about this countless -)_

The melody came back to her, slowly. Not the words, she couldn't remember them, something about… About falling. Falling, the way she'd fallen in and out of the dream. She could almost hear it…

The crystal held her captive as she watched herself wander.

 _(Wait. Is this his memory, or mine? He put it together, so -)_

 _(It… Must be his. But if that's true, where is he?)_

 _(There!)_

She watched, fascinated, as he appeared, in bits. She'd never really seen his face, only caught glimpses of him -

 _(Just like when I went back home… I only saw sightings of him, the reflection of his face in a window, in a crowd at a game, always far away, never there more than once…)_

But here she could see him, or at least flashes of him from the back or the side, he was watching, looking for her, then hiding. He would see her, and then disappear, making her hunt. He used other people to hide behind, vanishing if she got too close, a flash of his smile as she searched, watching her look.

He -

 _(He's having… Fun? Is that it? He looks like he's having fun… Watching me. Ok. Weirdo. This is what I need to see? Your memory of messing with me? Is that all this is or are you gonna -)_

And finally…

 _(There he was.)_

All of him, standing still, watching her. Sarah's breath suddenly escaped her in a pluming spiral.

 _(Why did I just…)_

It was just his face, his normal face, but it was… Maybe his expression…

 _(His expression?)_ She frowned. Why did he look like that? He'd been smiling and weaving away from her, disappearing and following her, but he froze suddenly, still watching her, and he looked… Serious, a yearning lingering about his face, a… Longing. _(Longing?)_ He lowered his head slightly to fully see her, observing her from a distance, wanting -

 _(That can't be right.)_

The memory moved forward and she saw her past struggle against the crowd, searching for… Well, him. She'd seen a glimpse of him and she knew she was here to… Do something, find Toby, beat another spell, defeat the Big Bad Goblin King, but she was completely out of her element and depth. Sarah cringed as her younger self pushed between dancing couples, fighting, looking - and then there he was, and her breath was gone again.

 _(Why am I doing that? It must be the cold.)_

He stepped from the crowd, almost… Rescuing her, taking her hand and -

She forgot about the cold. About the cave, the crystals, everything… Sarah stared, watching with a gaze that was older, and… Maybe it was the way his eyes held hers, with a deadly aim and a command, trapping her. Maybe it was the memory of him, his presence, the way he reached for her both as a order and a request, taking her hand without asking, yet he wasn't forceful… Surrounded by wobbly grotesque caricatures of people in a thick dream space, he was real, and solid, and his hand was a reassuring lifeline, strong and familiar, a rescue. Because it was a dream, but he… Wasn't. He just moved, and she moved with him, nervous yet following without question… Like… Like it was planned. Like it was already…

 _Falling -_

Like it was supposed to have happened.

 _(No, but I could have said no, if I wanted to… I could have broken away… But I didn't…)_

 _(I wouldn't have.)_

She'd been frozen amidst the dancing couples on the floor as he'd taken her -

 _(Just like you're freezing now! Hurry up!)_

But she couldn't make the orb fast-forward, and her mind seemed to be floating along with it, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate…

His eyes were doing that thing they always did to her, that look, like he was trying to bore a hole in her head. Those eyes were like a hunter's stalking his prey, but somehow they weren't that harsh, weren't that dark, they were just… Selfish, somehow. Not dominating, just holding her, claiming her gaze as she stared, unable to move away, not… Wanting to. There wasn't an inch of doubt in his being as moved, completely sure of himself, of her, of what he wanted and what he was doing, but he was holding back, she was sure of it, the way he carried himself… Confident and careful, but dancing with her as if she was already…

 _(His.)_

 _(No. What? That can't be it. I'm… Projecting.)_

 _(It's his memory, so why would I project that? That… Makes no sense at all…)_

 _Makes no sense to fall…_

 _(Pay attention!)_

They were dancing. She frowned, turning the orb slightly, looking at it, noticing… Things. New things. The way he looked, his face wasn't smirking, as soon as he took her hand his expression had changed. He wasn't playing, he was… Solemn. No, it was different, it was a real expression… He was being earnest, his face silently sincere.

 _(Sincere? About a dance? About a_ song? _A song I can't even remember?)_

She watched the other dancers around them, the dizzying way they moved, their over-exaggerated faces -

 _(They're not real.)_

It was true. She'd always known, she realized, sort of a constant assumption, quietly in the back of her mind.

 _(They weren't real. They were… I don't know, some kind of dream people, some sort of illusion, but they weren't real. They don't even have faces! They scared me, but I don't think they're even physical…_

 _Which means…_

 _He created a whole ball, with fake people…)_

 _(Why? Just so we could… Could what? Dance together?)_

 _Falling…_

 _(What were the words…)_

She tilted the orb again, disconcerted.

They danced and in the past she was distracted, trying to comprehend him and everything else at the same time. One second she was captured by his eyes, the next twisting her head to avoid the other dancers, drawing closer to him to try to get away from their whirling ghoulish counterparts, his hand tightening on her waist, pulling her nearer. It looked like he holding her captive, but he had been guarding her as well, protecting her from -

 _(No, I'm sure I'm seeing that wrong. Imagining - he was just messing with me. Trying to make me forget.)_

She'd been all right for a moment, for one brief second, buying into the illusion, into him, his presence, had almost forgotten. But he couldn't make her forget her anxiety, her heart leaping, as if trying to escape her chest, like it did now when she panicked and couldn't breathe right. Her heart had always lurched uncomfortably around him, no matter what pretty illusion he'd given her. And he'd was so _tall_ \- her hair barely came up to his shoulder. She was just a child, and she'd wanted - she'd wanted an adventure, love, to be a hero in a story, but it was so _much_. Sarah looked at her past face, her young eyes, enamored - was that the right word? Enamored and scared by him - but -

He smiled at her, that Goblin King smile, one that said _I win, you lose,_ and all she could think of was Toby - her, losing, losing Toby, _because that was what he wanted, wasn't it? He doesn't want you, Sarah, he wanted to win. Right. Right?_

And in the orb she fought against the spell, seeing the clock, panicking, wrenching them apart, grabbing the chair, smashing the dream -

His face -

 _(Wait. Go back.)_

She dragged her finger across the surface and the memory blurred, going too far back and starting over completely. She held the crystal closer to her eyes as it began again, squinting, watching for him. He was dancing, he was dancing, he was singing, she saw the clock -

 _(blah blah blah I know this part -)_

 _(This song again… Though we're strangers for now - )_

She was tense, looking for the moment, the second just before where she ran away, fleeing, and - she saw his face.

 _(I'll be here for you… As the world falls down…)_

There. His expression. He'd slipped again. Just for a second.

 _(What was that? That moment - that face. What is… That face. It's not bored, or smirking, or arrogant. He's not mad, or controlling, it's - I've seen it flash on him before. It's -_

 _He's… )_

She touched the orb and it paused, slightly pulsating in her hand.

 _(He looks… Shocked?_

 _Look at his eyes.)_

He looked shocked, and - _(Wait. There's something else -)_

Past-Sarah lifted the chair and he was swallowed by the crowd, by illusions of people that crowded around him and her, blocking them, forcing them apart. They went through him as he watched her, like colorful ghosts. He stared as she forced herself away, finding the chair, lifting it, shattering the dream, the illusion -

She caught one more glimpse of him before she did, and her heart sank.

 _(Sank?)_

The shock was there, and then - something else, something deeper under that, it went across his whole expression, melting through his eyes, but only for a second, a flash, and then it was gone before she could name it. Suddenly there and then not, his usual mask again, his screen of arrogance and indifference as she ran from him, and then _she_ was gone, falling, the dream people falling up, the dream crumbling in, shattering with the chair and the wall - she was pinwheeling, tumbling into darkness, down, down -

 _(And then I fell into the garbage dump, and -)_

But the memory didn't become the dump. It was just - the dream, shattering, breaking apart, flying away, and then it was him, the Goblin King, alone and sitting in a window, covered in glitter, shards of crystal, staring into the distance blankly.

 _(A window? Why a window? Where is he? It looks like the palace…)_

He looked at nothing but landscape, his face the same, but his eyes still far away, lips parted, arms slightly uplifted, still raised from where he'd been holding her, as if trying to catch up with his surroundings. Then he shook his head slightly, running his hands through his hair, like he was ruffling feathers. He laughed, scoffing at something, himself perhaps, or the dream, but he froze mid-chuckle, confusion running over his features as he continued to look off.

The confusion turned to a dark expression, almost murderous, and he frowned, eyes flashing. He crossed his arms and stood, walking away from the window, then doubled back, looking out. Finally, hands on hips, he stared angrily as he conjured an orb from nowhere, and a new vision of her appeared. In the crystal, a tiny Sarah fled the dump and his frown increased as he flipped the orb back into nothingness. Now he crossed his arms, glancing at a clock in the room. Sarah had been running out of time, but… She'd had enough to make it. He chewed his lip, grabbing his crop, bending it as he thought, a preoccupied expression mixing in with the anger.

Sarah watched as his entire manner reversed, anger contouring back to confusion, then melting into…

The Goblin King moved further from the window, his face obscuring partially in the shadows, and she squinted, trying to make him out. He grabbed another orb and waved his hand over it, bringing up the dream, watching it with a microscopic view, almost as she'd been doing a moment ago, watching himself, nodding, seeing her, tilting his head at her movements, muttering something she couldn't see or hear, but his eyebrows were drawn together furiously, watching, watching -

She shattered the dream and -

 _(There!)_

 _(It could be the shadows, or… My frozen imagination, or maybe I'm just seeing what I want to… Well, not what I_ want _to see, but -)_

But she knew what she saw. She'd worn the same tired expression on her own face for a year, its emotions etching into hers as she waited, searching -

He looked -

 _Hurt._

 _That_ was the word. It had flashed over his face in the ballroom and now it melted across him in the new memory, despite the gloom, despite the glare he wore, the curtain of hair, the glitter. Hurt. She could see it all over him, in his eyes, the way his mouth froze, his hand gripping the orb even tighter. Hurt that she'd left him, that she'd rejected everything he was offering, that she chose to leave when he was -

He hurled the orb into the depths of the room, then straightened, face once again carefully arranged into aggressive impassiveness, and the whole crystal started over, back to the ballroom. She didn't need to watch it again, and the orb peeled away from her numb fingers, clattering slightly as it rolled away into the depths.

 _(Hurt.)_

 _(… Hurt. Hurt? At… What. Me running away? That can't be… Right. His face…_

 _Hurt.)_

Her own face, pinched against the cold and concentration, mirrored his.

 _(What does that mean? He was hurt I_ left? _He didn't want me to leave? He didn't… Want me to leave?)_

Her heart sank at the understanding as she fumbled with it, trying out the thought again.

 _(He didn't want me to leave. Or… He didn't think I would. Look at his face… His face says…)_

 _(Stay…)_

Stay? Stay where? He was the Goblin King, she was a puny human, and besides, he couldn't be hurt, or sad, or whatever his face showed. He didn't feel… Things. He was beyond… Those emotions, she couldn't affect him like that, it didn't make sense. It was just a dream, a pretty distraction, so she would forget Toby, so she would…

 _(Lose…_

 _…_ _I was supposed to… Lose…_

 _Lose to a perfect dream, a dream that had everything I wanted, everything I could ever want…_

 _Look at what I'm offering…)_

She sat, numb, staring at nothing but ice.

 _(Why?)_

Why did he want her to stay? Stay? _(Who said anything about staying? Why would he want that? It was - impossible - no, that's not… Not what's important.)_

She shoved the thought aside. What was important was the Labyrinth, and not dying. So If this was the Ice Queen, _why_ did she need to see that? It made no sense…

 _Makes no sense to fall…_

 _Falling… Falling in…_

 _(In what?)_ God, she had more questions now than when she'd started. She looked at the orb, flashing far across the floor.

 _(Why this memory? Why the Ice Queen? What am I supposed to see?)_

 _(The little boy Kay couldn't see the truth, he couldn't see because he was blinded by anger and lies -)_

 _(So… I was mad, mad at being lied to, at being left behind. I blamed him for… For forgetting me. For leaving me! And he did!)_

 _(But he tried to… Make me lose. So…)_

Her brain ached against the cold and the logic.

 _(So maybe if he didn't know how to stop me winning, he tried to get me to give in. He… Didn't know what was going to happen. Maybe this is about… Forgiveness. I saw him in the memory when I left, and he was hurt, and I was hurt when he left me a year ago, so maybe… It's about misunderstanding.)_

What had he said? _(You weren't supposed to_ win… _You were supposed to_ lose… _)_

Maybe it was about… Letting go. Of anger, betrayal, of everything she'd felt, alone, because he hadn't meant to, didn't know…

 _(So what were all those images about that he showed me earlier? When I yelled at him? Him, being alone, as he lost his magic? How was that supposed to do anything?_

 _Was… He trying to get to me? To reverse what was happening? To help me?)_

Her heart sank again as the thought hit her.

 _(Help me. He was trying to -)_

 _(But why didn't he say so?)_

 _(Were you really listening? He doesn't say his feelings very well, Sarah, in case you hadn't picked up on that. Think about what you saw. He was alone, on the other side, trying to rule a breaking kingdom that he lost, to fix a home that he'd helped destroy, a drying bog, hoards of goblins, crumbling ruins and…)_

The crystals around her came to life, suddenly flickering badly, like a dying lightbulb, the room hazardly flashing. It was his memories playing out again, showing the dying Labyrinth as he'd paced. There were the goblins, the decay, and him, reading books and papers, and she'd seen all this earlier but - there had been another memory. One more she'd forgotten. The mirror.

Her heart didn't sink so much as stop. A Goblin King, alone, his hand pressed against a mirror.

A large silver mirror.

 _(… Mine?)_

She watched as he smashed the same orb again and again, his magic fading, as he walked, alone, in a Labyrinth that wouldn't respond, as his kingdom crumbled around him, as he looked over spells to bring her back, as he faced a mirror and tried to talk to a girl that couldn't hear…

 _A girl that tried just as hard, wasting away on the opposite side, a mirror surface and a world away, straining over her own books, warping his own kingdom against him as she tried to find her way back as hard as she could, as she wished and wished, creating a world that would bring them together -_

"Oh no." The words fell from her mouth, swallowed in the crystals.

 _(I didn't know - when he showed me earlier, he was trying to tell me - he wasn't trying to make me feel bad, he was trying to show me! He was trying just as hard as I was. He didn't mean for me to win. He didn't want all of this for me either. And I don't think… He knew. Until… It was too late.)_

Sarah felt sadness melt through, the anger and hurt turning to clear pain. Tears brimmed and she didn't even try to push them back, she couldn't, they just fell, her vision blurry then clear, then blurry then clear, then just blurry, it was all blurry.

 _(I was supposed to lose…)_

 _(I_ had _to go…)_

 _(I was going to come back…)_

 _(I wanted…)_

 _(I won his Labyrinth, but he didn't know any more than I did what was going to happen, he didn't want me to win, he didn't plan on that… And I was selfish, and so was he, and I was a child, I just wanted…)_

She didn't know what she'd wanted but it wasn't… Sarah hadn't wanted to leave forever, she hadn't wanted to be alone. She'd _needed_ to come back, and so she'd wished, wished as hard as she could, studied and given everything she had to come back, to find - them - to find him -

"I - w-wanted - to f-ff-ind - you - I w-wanted t-to c-come b-back - I - d-d-didn't - realize y-" She choked out, turning to him.

To his form. His eyes were now closed, his skin a crystalline white, lips a contrasting dark blue -

"No!" She threw her hunched body at him, grabbing his face as his head rolled to the side. Her eyes were burning as tears pushed out, they were hot and bright, everything was -

Bright…

 _Sunlight._ Sunlight, dim, cloudy sunlight, but sunlight. Warmth. There was warmth in the air. The crystals had split apart in the ceiling and at the end of the cave, opening, steam pouring from them.

Her eyes were still streaming and she gasped, the light nearly blinding her, then turning back to him, trying to keep his head up, her hands were too numb, she couldn't feel his temperature, she couldn't feel a pulse -

"N-no - I - I'm s-s-s-" _(I'm sorry, please, just wait -)_ Sarah blinked away the tears and tried to breathe in air, her chest tightening. _(Chest. Maybe I can feel his heartbeat through his chest -)_ Something pressed against her hand, his head into her palm. His eyelids fluttered against her fingers, blinking slowly open to find hers.

"I'm s-s-s-s-" She tried, her voice splitting as well as chattering.

"You're… Crying again." His voice was a whisper.

Steam poured off the orb as she gestured at it with her free arm. "I - yes."

"… Stop."

"It… I'm - trying." She swallowed. "L-let's g-g-get -"

"Just… Give me a moment." He breathed, closing his eyes, his head falling back against her hands again.

"I'm - s-s-s-sorry -" She couldn't stop weeping. A very tired part of her brain knew it was exhausted tears, the worst kind, the ones that wouldn't stop until she'd sobbed every last drop out. Something warm wrapped around her fingers and she blinked to see his hands grabbing hers. She tried to weakly shake him off, to force his barely warm hands back under the cloak, but his grip was beyond hers and he simply held on, refusing to let go.

"It was not… Your fault."

"Y-yeah I know b-b-b-" She began. _(But I'm still sorry -)_

"You… Will listen." He said it softly, and she knew it was a request, but she also had no energy to deny him, or point out how he shouldn't be speaking having almost hypothermia-d his way into oblivion -

He sighed. "You… Weren't supposed to _win._ You were… Supposed to… To lose, to bargain, to do… Something. But you won." His voice was quiet, a murmur above hers.

Sarah's emotions couldn't keep up as she stared at him, trying to comprehend.

 _(I won. I won and I wasn't supposed to. I don't understand you, or your logic, your emotions that you let slip out and then pretend never existed…)_

 _(You give me so many riddles and then separate, different answers, you ignore me and then tell me you've been waiting - what do you want, Goblin King? You offered me the world at 16 and I'm not even ready now to handle my own Labyrinth, so… Can you really blame me?_

 _I don't know what question he wants or I don't know the answers…)_

"So… I was the… Fool, because… I gambled, and lost. And you won. And then… This happened. I tried… To fix… To find you. To somehow…" He gestured to the crystals, which were flickering badly against the sun. His images flashed, freezing, then faded, jumpy. "It all changed, it was slow, so slow… I didn't heed it, and then - It was too fast, I lost control… Of everything, I couldn't even - I couldn't even find you to warn you, I didn't realize what was happening in time, I tired the mirror, I wasted magic on spell after spell, I sent Didymus, but… I couldn't get you back. I couldn't… You… You broke it but it wasn't your _fault,_ and you were… Alone. But not alone in… Being alone. I wanted… I tried…"

Sarah looked at his crystals as he spoke, avoiding his eyes. _(And then I_ yelled _at you for not explaining yourself. Because I'm clearly so great at communicating. Goddamnit, brain.)_ "I - I'm s-s-s-sorry I -…" _(Was an idiot.)_ "I d-d-didn't l-listen." She finished. _(And almost let you freeze.)_

He chuckled, steaming laughter drifting up. "I am… Sorry I didn't speak… Sooner. But you still… Solved whatever… It was."

 _(Please. I watched your weird fucking orb memory and cried. Literally a baby could've done what I did. Toby could've done that. The orb. The stupid orb.)_ "It w-was j-just a m-memory. It w-wasn't really a h-h-h-helpful a-answer."

"But… Not if you… Asked the right questions… Perhaps?"

"… M-m-maybe. But i-it w-w-was just the d-dance. O-ours."

"Ours?"

"Y-yeah. I-it was y-your memory."

"And what was… The answer?"

"The - s-s-solution? It w-was f-f-orgivness. I - I think. Th-that's the answer - in t-t-the f-fairy tale. Or s-s-s-something l-like that." She tried to roll her eyes through the tears. It was a slushy attempt at best.

"And what… Was the question?"

 _(The question?)_

His eyes were open now, dark and light, measuring her.

 _(The question to the answer? What had it been? The question was what did I need to see, what did I need to realize, because Kay in the story needed to realize that Gerda loved him and that was the answer he needed to know, love -)_

Sarah's breath stopped, and she blinked.

 _(No, that's just the story. The little boy also forgave the girl and apologized and did a lot of other stuff, and the puzzle meant… It meant eternity, that was the puzzle, so - so this has nothing to do with… That. Besides, I had like 20 questions after I was done watching you throw orbs everywhere. I wanted to know the lyrics to the song, I wanted to know why this particular story, so that wasn't the question, the question I wanted to know was why -)_

Sarah stopped.

 _(Why you didn't want me to leave.)_

 _(Why you wanted me to stay, why you looked so hurt, why you created an entire perfect world for a 16-year-old human who should mean nothing to you, why you offered her everything, why - if you knew there was a chance she might win - why would you invite her in the first place to risk it all and finally -_

 _(Why oh why would you would want her to stay -)_

 _(But what no one knew is that the King of Goblins had fallen…)_

 _Fallen… Falling… In love…_

No. She fought for breath again. She didn't know. She didn't know what he wanted, and she didn't want to tell him the question or… Or hear the answer. She - because the answer could - she didn't - could be -

 _(No. I don't - I can't -)_

The sun suddenly felt like it was burning her, she was hot and her blood was in her ears, rushing against the heat, her warmth rapidly returning and flooding her all at once, too much.

 _(I can't know this. I can't do this right now. I don't know. I don't. And I definitely don't want the answer to something I don't know. Of course I don't. How could I. That doesn't make sense. And I make sense. I solve crazy Labyrinths with my own fucked-up logic, using rules and studying stories and it all works and goes together in order and I have to fix this just like a fairy tale. It had a beginning and middle and an end, point A to point Z, Happily Ever After, with a million tropes and cliches that I know and I use and that's it. There's no time for something stupid like this, I can't hesitate over whatever this is, it's stupid. He wanted my brother and I wanted to be a hero in a fairy tale and we both paid the price and it's nothing more. Once Upon a Time all the way through to Z. That's it. it's about fixing this, it's not about me, or him, or - or us, or why he wanted me to -)_

 _(Why he wanted…_ _Me?)_

 _(No. No no no. That is not my fairy tale. I mean, it's mine, but it's my fucked-up version that I'm trying to_ fix _, working against isn't my_ story. _I'm on a quest to defeat my crazy killer Labyrinth, I didn't come here to find my brother's kidnapper and -)_

 _(And what? What is your fairy tale, Sarah? There was a beautiful young girl… And what no one knew -)_

She forced the explosion of thoughts violently aside, suddenly acutely aware of everything. Her hot face and pounding heart, the light that was blinding her, the fact he still hadn't let go of her hands, warm fingers firmly trapping her cold swollen ones, his eyes that were watching her, holding her in their gaze just like they had in a ballroom so long ago, the fact that her tears were just now stopping, and wouldn't stop fast enough. She couldn't seem to get in the right amount air to calm herself down, and inhaling faster just gave her hyperventilation.

He was still looking at her, expecting an answer. _(Fuck.)_ Her chattering was now quickly turning to stuttering. "T-the q-q-q-q-q-qq-question."

"Yes."

"I - it w-w-was - if I c-c-c-ould f-find y-you." Sarah gave her best attempt to sound controlled, like she wasn't lying. Which she wasn't. _(Completely not lying. About anything. At all.)_

He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You… Already did. I… Knew you would… Find me."

 _(Shit.)_ "I - I d-didn't." She tried a causal shrug. _(What did I say the answer was. Is he expecting more of an explanation. Was it something about forgiving him? Shit. Shit. I don't remember.)_

He blinked lazily at her. "Always."

She didn't know what he was talking about, she couldn't even quite remember how to breathe for some reason. "Always… What?"

He let out a shadow of a laugh in the sun, his fangs catching the light and suddenly the moment broke. She stared away, blinking, her eyes watering as her head swum with confusion. _(Everything hurts. Nothing makes sense. What just happened.)_

"There's always a way out." He nodded towards the gap in the dripping crystals.

"Yep." Her words were like molasses in her mind. Speaking. How to speak. She cleared her throat. "It's that." _(Let's go and not think, Williams, not think and no questions, never any questions, just don't think, just go, don't think, don't -)_

He stood with a slight groan, pulling her up and still not releasing her hands, and she tried to step away, to put some distance between them before he could hear her stupid loud racing pulse -

Sarah took a step and slid crazily, grappling with his hands. The ice had begun to melt, and the floor was now a slippery puddle under her. He said nothing, just grabbed and swung her up, carrying her in his arms as he slid carefully across the ice. She was too tired to disagree, burying her head in her hands from embarrassment as he stepped over the crystals, in-between them, through a path and into -

The snow.


	22. Ruby Ruse

A/N: Happy Holidays! This is officially PART 2 of the story! We have reached a turning point, although we still have quite a ways to go, but it is here I would break the story in at least half as a marker. Some points before we start! 1. In most translations it is the _SNOW_ Queen, not the ICE queen, and if Sarah was REALLY the giant nerd I was making her out to be then wouldn't she know that? Well yes, I know I know, but the point is, it has to do with freezing, and ice kinda sounds cooler and the first time I wrote it I thought it WAS the Ice Queen (even though yes, I did google it when I was drafting, and my brain still decided it was ice, not snow). I - I'm sure there's a version out there that's called the Ice Queen. Right? C'om. Someone must have messed up a translation somewhere. **LET ME HAVE THIS.** (2. Probably no one cares but the whole 'Okay' chapter reference was to this: Sarah literally became Kay in that chapter. Fragmented evil mirror shard in the eye that wasn't resolved until crying? Yeah. That was when it happened. And that was the pun I was doing. Was the reveal worth it? Maybe not but it was so terrible that I had to. ;'D #letmehavethistoo) Other than that, thank you all again for the comments, support, follows and favorites! I wish you all a wonderful holiday season - I really enjoy this time of year, and yes, Xmas/this time also reminds me of Labyrinth... I think of lot of fics just work well with an Xmas/holiday/winter themes? Maybe that's why they seem to fit so well together in my mind? Who knows. Thank you again for the support and kind words, and onward!

 **Ruby Ruse**

She blinked. It was a brilliant grey, but it was outside, and, to her relief, there was just snow. Not ice, just fluffy curving mounds of snow. It wasn't even that cold, though having just left the caves Sarah would've gladly crawled straight into an igloo as long as it was slightly above a freezing temperature.

 _(His heat's returning.)_ She realized as they moved downhill. _(I can feel it through his arms. I mean, he's not purple anymore, so I knew that, but - he should probably focus on getting himself back to normal temperature.)_ "You can put me down." She said, hearing the snow crunch under his feet.

"A moment longer, perhaps."

 _(Fine. I'd probably sink into the snow with my luck. And he's warm. I can't argue that. I just…)_

She sighed, feeling… Drained. Sarah closed her sore eyes, which finally seemed be done practicing their best dual faucet impression, and just tried to breathe for a second.

 _(Deep breaths. Deep breaths and don't think about what you were thinking about, don't think about what you said to him -)_

Said? What she's practically _screamed_ , not to mention bawling like a child as she yelled at him for leaving her alone.

 _(He deserved it. I think. Well. He needed to know how I felt. And at least he told me what was going on finally. After I had a temper tantrum.)_

Still, a very small and tired part of her brain felt like an idiot. All her shouting and tears hadn't helped them, it almost frozen them. She'd been so overwhelmed that she barely solved it in time. What if she'd taken longer? Thrown a real, long, 16-year-old-Sarah tantrum? They would have died.

 _(But we didn't. But if I went back and did it again, I'd definitely just - keep moving. And realized it was a distraction to keep us there. Like I should've. I was being an idiot.)_

"Are you sleeping?"

"No. Sorry." She looked up as she felt him stop, opening her eyes.

"If you need to sleep, I'll carry -"

"It's - no! I'm fine. Let's not make you do that. You need a rest, especially after you almost froze to death!" _(And I already feel like a moron for all the other shit I said without you having to carry me every step of the way.)_

He huffed slightly at her, indignant. " _I_ don't need to r-"

But she squirmed out of his arms before he could protest further, sinking down slightly into powdery snow. She bounced in it, happy to finally be on some form of solid ground, turning out to see where they were - "Oh!"

Red. Red flowers. White snow and red flowers, and there, leading into it, was a winding trail.

"Better than ice, right?" She muttered, more to herself to fill the silence than anything. The red carpet of flowers almost hurt to look at against the whiteness of the snow.

"Quite. Now stop hopping." He moved from behind, reaching around her shoulders to fasten the cloak under her chin. She jumped, first startled by his closeness, then squirming with embarrassment.

 _(I feel like a toddler being bundled up by their parent.)_ "I don't need - it's not that cold -"

He laughed at her protests, finishing and taking her arm, pausing only for a moment to catch her eyes.

Her heart jolted again. _(No it - it didn't jolt! I'm not jolting! He's making me nervous, just staring at me like that!)_ "What!?" The word came out more aggressively than Sarah had intended and she winced. "I mean, what are you - starting at."

"You are… All right, aren't - ?"

 _(Oh god. I look like a mess.)_ "I'm fine! It's fine. Let's go." She tried to think of something else to say, to prove it, to change the subject, anything - "As long as you're ok, too, right? We can rest if -"

He snorted and began walking.

 _(Fine. I'll take that as a strong yes.)_

She only stumbled a little as he moved forward, trying to remember how to walk on solid ground. Even more humiliating was the fact that she had to lean on his arm slightly, her legs still sore from the well and now the ice, but he seemed not to notice or care. She suddenly almost wished she were back in the cave. At least the frigid temperatures would have helped her puffy eyes.

 _(God, and I still can't believe I cried. I wept like a - I don't know. I bawled my eyes out in front of the frigging Goblin King. Sarah Williams, everyone. Hero, adventurer, sobbing moron banshee.)_

 _(I mean, I tried. I apologized, and I deserved answers. Could I have handled it better? Yes. Does he hate me? No.)_

 _(Besides, it wasn't like I wanted to yell at him. And it wasn't like he wanted to leave me in the dark. Now I have more questions -)_

 _(No! No more questions. Especially not about weird stuff that's not imperative. You just learned you're the ruler of this place; process that first and give it a rest, Williams. Just for a second. Take a breath.)_

A sweet floral scent interwove in the crisp air, and she inhaled deeply, her breath puffing out gently like a cloud. The flowers, ranging in reds from dark maroon to bright scarlets were tiny, dotting the path like drops of blood. They were short, only a few inches, but they still came above the snow, creating a sparse path in front of them as they continued up a small hill.

 _(Flowers in snow… I can't think of what that's from.)_

 _(How about just focus on moving forward, eh? Take another breath. It's pretty. Just enjoy it.)_

 _(Yeah, just like the first forest, where the trees turned out to be -)_

 _(Come on. Flowers. Pretty. Just don't pick any and you'll be fine. Just for a second, take a break. Enjoy the beauty, before they start trying to eat you, or project your worst nightmares, or whatever. Pretty.)_

They reached the top of the little hill, and Sarah's breath escaped her suddenly as she stared. _(Wow. Ok. Fine. That is gorgeous.)_

Below them stretched a valley of flowers, red on red on red. They grew bigger, covering the snow, no longer sparse, making a blanket of paths. A sea of red.

 _(The red sea. Is that it? How do I beat that? Part my arms?)_

 _(No, no. Not the red sea. They're just flowers so far.)_

 _(It's never that simple and you know it.)_

 _(But for now… They are.)_

She took a deep inhale and clambered down the hill after him. They reached the bottom and the flowers, now taller, greeted them as she stared, watching as the back of her neck began to prickle.

 _(What are you hiding…)_

She felt eyes on her. His eyes. She looked up.

He wasn't looking at her, he was looking at her elbow. Sarah followed his gaze and realized she'd had tensed up and was probably crushing his arm in hers. Well, not crushing it. There was no way she could crush him, but still.

 _(Idiot, Williams.)_ "Sorry." She tried to loosen it.

"What were you staring at?"

"The flowers… I'm waiting for… Something to pop out and chase us, or…"

He smiled at her, a crooked bemused pale grin against the scarlet background. "Shall we just see if we can get _through_ them first?"

 _(See? Even he thinks you should just enjoy them before anything crazy happens.)_ "Yeah, but…"

"I have a slight feeling this one might be shorter, anyways." He scanned the ocean of red.

"Really? Why?" She looked up a him. Could he feel the way that strongly already?

"I can see most of the path."

 _(… Oh.)_

He was right - at ground level, the flowers were only about up to the waist. Sarah couldn't see through them after a certain point, but with his height it probably would go faster. "Ok then." She forced a tight smile, feeling stupid.

He returned it. "Ready?"

"I… Guess. Are you?"

"Always."

They walked in.

Sarah tried to keep her face causal, but she glanced at the flowers from the corners of her eyes. _(Maybe they'll change if I don't look at them directly.)_

They didn't, but the reds began to range even more as they went in. Dark to bright, the flowers were now different in sizes and variety, roses mixed with daisies and tulips, and other ones she couldn't identify. Just like the forest, where there were fruits of every -

"It's rather attractive, isn't it?" He remarked.

 _(What? Attractive? Who?)_ "Um… Uh. Yeah." Sarah's boots crunched in the snow. "Unusual weather we're having though, isn't it? I'm… Wondering how they grow in this climate."

"We just passed a crystal cave of memories and yet you're wondering -"

"Sorry. It's - autopilot -" _(He doesn't know what that is, probably.)_ "It's a - a reflex. Of course it's magic."

"No need to apologize." He purred. "This is not your…" His voice trailed off.

"Expertise?" A nervous laugh escaped her lips. "Well, that's not quite true anymore, is it."

"It was never true." His words were quiet. "You were always extraordinarily good at this. Especially for a human."

 _(Extraordinarily good at this. Especially for a human. What? What.)_ She stared at the powdery path, out at the flowers, her breath catching in her throat. _(Was that a compliment? A real compliment? What is happening.)_

A real compliment… He was praising her. For being… Clever. For beating his Labyrinth. For beating him. She tried to wrap her mind around it.

 _(Did the ice cave melt his snark? I guess he doesn't hate me for crying and almost letting him freeze.)_ "Thank you." It was hurried and it was late, her words trying to close the pause that had opened between them.

"Does my praise require that much deep thought?" He chuckled and her blush quickly turned pale.

"Ah - no. Nope. Ha." _(Why am I acting so suddenly awkward around him? I'm just… I'm not acting weird, he's acting weird! I don't know. I almost just froze. Goddamnit. Be cool. Just stop over thinking this. Calm down. Think about something else if you have to think. Not about questions, not about the stupid Snow Queen legend, think about the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth…_ My _Labyrinth.)_ She glanced at him sideways, wondering. _(Wait. He's in a good mood. I think. So… If I really do have to ask questions about the Labyrinth - and I_ really _do - I guess I should ask him now.)_ She started talking before she could doubt herself, the words blurting out. "Ok, so - now that we're _both_ sure I do control the Labyrinth - or whatever - how does that work?"

He sighed, peering over a wall of ruby petals before pulling them around a corner and to the right. "It isn't _control_. The Labyrinth feeds off you, off power and ideas. Were you a completely magical being, such as an elf, you may be able to… Feel the path, as I do, to rule over the creatures, to better sculpt it into what you desired."

She frowned, trying to follow along. "So… It's just… Taking what I read and making it into the Labyrinths we're walking, right?" She'd managed to grasp that fact back in the cave. _(It took my fairy tales and it twisted them, and the more I read the more it borrowed.)_

"… Yes. I believe so."

"Plagiarizing bastard." She glared at the flowers. "You're lucky I'm not into horror stories, you know."

"Because that would have been easier than our previous encounters?"

She considered. _(Well, easier isn't the word perhaps. Although the flowers seem pretty good so far. Maybe they're about… Beauty? Finding something amidst the beauty, like Aladdin? I'm ok with that as long as they don't collapse around us again…)_ Another question occurred. "Ok, but why aren't there any dragons or witches or anything like that popping out at us? Those were in the stories I read."

"This Labyrinth cannot support life, I believe. It is too unstable. Besides, it's already very prone to goblins."

 _(But the mirrors attacked us -)_

 _(The mirrors weren't alive. That was what they were trying to become, remember? And the mushrooms don't count either. They're both more like… A plant security system.)_

 _(Ok. Logic. I kind of get it. Kind of. Or at least I think I'm starting to.)_

So the Labyrinth, in its normal state, could support at least goblin life. And elf life. And whatever else she'd already encountered in his kingdom. Things could _live_ in the Labyrinth, unharmed, with the right ruler. "So… Why does it want to kill us, then?"

"It doesn't want to _kill_ us, it wants us to lose. It recognizes neither of us as a leader, so it goes against both of us." He scanned the tops of the flowers, leading them in a curving spiral.

"Then why - why would it let me win in the first place? Even if you couldn't control that part of it, shouldn't the Labyrinth have known I was human and wasn't going to be able to handle -" She waved at the crimson mass in front of them. "All this?"

"I… Am not certain."

Sarah sighed. Well, that wasn't dodging the question so much as just not having the answer. "So… Do I get anything cool then? I mean, it tries to kill me with my own fairy tales, but I don't get any kind of cool magic to battle it with?"

"Battle it?" He laughed, staring at her incredulously. "Because you're skilled enough in magic that you're ready to fight using it?"

Her neck flushed, rapidly matching the flowers. "Hey! I'm not doing so hot using my bare _human_ hands, so I thought maybe -"

"It… Has given you a power in a way."

"It has!? Really? When!?" _(And how did I not notice?)_

"Have you not solved every path? Do you not know the answers, the endings to each of the stories?"

"… What?" She gaped at him. "That's -" _(Stupid)_ "- Cheating! That's not fair! That's not a cool power! That's like saying - like saying because I read about running I'm ready for a marathon! I have nothing to physically defend myself with!"

"You have me." He looked at her evenly, his face -

Completely serious. _(Ok. Um. Sure I have you. But, like, that's not the point, and -)_

You have me. Her stomach flipped suddenly and her thought unraveled. _(What? No, I - had a point. What was it? Why did he - you have me? What's that supposed to - he doesn't mean - it's not about having him, it's about -)_

 _'_ _Always', he'd said -_

 _What no one knew -_

 _(Why are you thinking about that? That's not -)_ He was still staring at her. Sarah glanced back at the path, running her free hand through her tangled hair, trying to think past the haze that suddenly had encapsulated her brain. "Yeah, I know I - I have you, but you're running low on your magic -"

He tilted his head. "Have I not proven helpful thus far despite that?"

She tired to give a scoff but it became another nervous laugh. "Of course you have! It's just… I don't like feeling -" Her voice sank to a blurry mumble. "Like… I can't save you, or I have to rely on you to save _me_ all the time. I don't like feeling helpless." _(Like a stupid princess.)_

"You are never helpless."

The flowers scent was sweeter as they continued to the left, Sarah rolling her eyes. _(Right. Because I haven't come close to dying at all, even with all your macho help.)_

"It hasn't given you a physical power," He continued, "But it is a perfectly tailored test, for you, is it not?"

"Yeah…" She grumbled, kicking the snow. _(Great. A perfect test except I don't even know the questions until the time is up. Although…)_

 _(Power… Connection… Sounds kind of…)_ Her mind wandered. "So - I _do_ have a connection to it. A _form_ of power. Power over the Labyrinth." It was stupid, but at least out loud it sounded… Almost cool. _(I beat the Labyrinth. I have power over the Labyrinth. Hell yeah.)_

He sighed. "That's not quite - yes. Fine."

They turned a corner, then another, zigzagging in. She grinned. "So then I have power over… Everything. The goblins, Hoggle, Ludo -"

"That's not - not how it -"

His exasperation reminded her of - of an owl, trying to ruffle its feathers and look dignified, and she let out slight giggle, continuing. "I have power over Didymus, the fairies, -"

"No -"

Her giggle became a laugh. "The chickens, the rocks, you, -"

He spoke quietly. "You have always had a… Power over me."

"Yes, and - what?" Sarah froze. _(What did he just say? What did_ I _just say? You have power over me… Just like… When I was 16 and he was… Offering me the world -)_

 _(Offering me a dance, trying to make me lose, to make me -)_

 _(No, to keep Toby, because that's what it was about. It was a_ game _to him, a game of where Toby was the prize, because that's what he does, and don't you dare start wondering if there was another option in there.)_

But her mind worked without her, recalling images of him from the past, holding her closer in the ballroom, of his face, his hurt face, his shock and - _(He offered me the trap and the world, and then I…)_

 _'_ _What was the question?'_

What was the question she'd so desperately avoided? Shoved aside and blocked? _(What was it, Sarah? Was it why did you want me to stay? Why didn't you want me to go?)_

 _(Why did you do all this for stupid, idiotic, me?)_

 _But no one knew -_

 _(Not my fairy tale-)_

 _You have no power -_

 _(I promised -)_

 _That the goblin king had fallen in love -_

 _You have always had a power over me -_

 _(Oh no. Oh, no. Nonononono!)_ "Ha haaaaaa." She choked out. "Well. That's uh - yeah, no - no, ok, but - no - I - that's not uh -"

Her brain forgot how to make sentences, let alone any sentences that didn't have to do with power over her or him or _or or_ \- "Well, that's why I'm here!" _(No - that doesn't - that doesn't make - you imbecile. That is NOT why you're here.)_ "I mean - that's -"

He tilted his head towards her. "It is, is it?"

Oh _no._ This is not what she wanted to talk about. She'd just wanted to know more about the Labyrinth, and then her stupid mouth had decided to run itself and -

 _(holyfuckingshitballs. Change this conversation. CHANGE IT NOW.)_ "Not - no, this isn't - this isn't about power. It's not about - control, or - or influence, or," She was swallowing a lot, her throat closing up around stammering words. "It's - you know - I'm here to - to balance. To fix. All - all part of the plan." The heat in her neck had climbed so far up her face Sarah was now pretty sure she was camouflaging in with the flowers.

"Indeed."

"Indeed. Yep. Here to - fix."

 _(God. Just - new plan. How about we don't talk to him at all? That seems good. Good plan, Silent Sarah. Look, it even goes together. God. God! Stupid. Just don't talk to him and also don't mention the word 'power' - and - and shut up.)_

 _(Aren't you glad you figured out how to come back here?)_

 _(Silence.)_

 _(Isn't this exactly what you wanted?)_

 _(Everything can shut up now. Including you, annoying-second-voice!)_

She grit her teeth, and decided to aggressively enjoy the landscape. They continued straight, the flowers spilling in front of them, their scent rich and… Honeyed. Was that the word to describe it? Sticky, and sweet, like she wanted to eat it -

 _(Killer bees won't try to attack us, right? That's not in any fairy tales I know of off the top, but -)_

The flowers looked too delicate to support the weight of giant killer bees, Sarah decided carefully. In fact, she doubted any insect or bug could survive in the snow. Not that it was that cold, but still. The petals bobbed slowly along as they walked, the range in red fascinating her.

 _(I just didn't think about how there could be so many variations of the same thing…)_

She tried to peer further into them, but it was simply layers of flowers on flowers on flowers… Beautiful and brilliantly alive against the snow.

 _(It looks so picturesque… Like a scene from a fairy tale… Where they'd ride off, into the sunset, in a field of flowers, the prince and the princess, to their perfect lives and huge castle… And fall in love and live happily ever after…)_

 _(That's another story, Sarah. Someone else's.)_

"Yeah…" She frowned at her disjointed thoughts, sighing, caught in the daydream and the red, the endless red…

They stopped. It took her a moment to realize, as she stared straight ahead into a wall of petals and stems.

 _(Nothing's wrong, it's just flowers, just pretty flowers… It's supposed to look like that…)_

"What's -" She began, her voice sounding far away.

"This is… I…" He turned around, and retracing their route.

"Wha-" Sarah looked back, skidding in the snow. "What? What happened?" _(Why are we turning around? Did I miss something?)_

"It was the wrong path. Dead end."

 _(Oh. A dead end. Yeah, I knew that. I saw it.)_ "Oh. Ok. That's not bad."

"I knew it was the wrong path." He glanced around. "I could see it, but… I was distracted."

"… Ah. Point taken." _(I'll definitely stay quiet.)_ Sarah sucked down deep, calming breaths, trying to force relaxation into her bloodstream with each inhale.

They looped back to the main path, the flowers -

 _(Tall… They're tall and pretty and sweet… I want to eat them, they look... Really good. What are they?)_

Her thoughts came in patches as she tried to recall the technical terms. _(Roses… I see at least one of those, and that's a - a Chrysanthemum… Daises, I think those are…. And…)_

There were a lot of other ones. She recognized one from a painting, but she couldn't think of the name. And a lot more she's seen in pictures, but… _(Tulip. I remember that… And I think that one's a… It had something to do with a ship… An amaryllis? Something like that, it was a boat name I think… That's a hibiscus…)_

The path branched, and they went right. The flowers were now so tall they were over her head, but she enjoyed looking up at their contrast against the grey snowing sky.

 _(Red flowers, red flowers ruby red rover… Red flowers in fairytales…_ My _fairytales…)_ The path branched again, and they stopped while he peered over the field of blossoms before going left. She smiled to herself. _(My Fairytales.)_


	23. Daydream Stickiness

A/N: Merry Xmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festive Kwanzaa, Fröliche Krampus, and have a spectacular everything else! The holiday season ran me over like a steamroller. I know the days feel shorter but DAMN. Felt like I was in a haze. Anyhoo. I know the holidays and this time of year in general can be super rough for people, but I hope yall treated yourself and did stuff that makes you feel happy (within reason of course). The journey continues! Only a few more challenges remain. Thank you, as always, for the favorites, the follows and the support - my heart has grown 3 sizes. Happy holidays, and if I don't write before jan 1st, happy New Years!

 **Daydream Stickiness**

 _(I know this, then, right? These are my flowers, from my fairy tales that I read! Red.)_ She smiled to herself. _(This has to be something I know… It must be. I created it. Sort of. So what are you? Or who?)_

There were red roses in Sleeping Beauty, but there were more than roses here. Snow White and Rose Red - no, same deal. There were roses in Beauty and the Beast, too, and Alice in Wonderland, but…

 _(But the roses in Beauty and the Beast weren't enchanted, they were just in the garden, being symbolistic… And Alice had white and red roses, and neither of those were about snow… They don't feel like the right fit…)_

 _(There's not a story with just a shit-ton of different flowers, is there? All of the same color? And the snow…)_

Well, she'd been tricked by details before… It wasn't a forest that wanted to trap her, it was the mushrooms.

 _(I wonder if this is some sort of fairy garden?)_

It seemed unlikely.

It also didn't seem like it _mattered._ Nothing was wrong with this Labyrinth. He could see them through it, when he wasn't distracted. She could enjoy the smell and the sights, and not freezing to death. Sure, she was a little disappointed at the lack of answers, but it wasn't like she _needed_ them, not during a stroll…

She inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent, its sweet thickness like a warm fog. _(Like a forest of flowers. Where else would I be able to have this? And it's better than a forest of mushrooms…)_

Then they stopped. Again. Sarah looked up at him, his face was blank. He turned around. "What - what happened?"

"Wrong way…"

"Did… Did the path change or something?"

"No, I…" He just walked on, wordlessly.

 _(Ok.)_ Sarah's mind wandered. _(Maybe he's distracted by the scenery too…)_

The flowers were distracting her, but in a good way, all the stress and emotions she'd built up in the crystals was easing, washed away in their sea of blossoms… She liked watching the petals in the wind, bobbing up and down, slowly, the red against the white, like blood on paper, pulling her eyes towards them, attracting her gaze, her hand… She wordlessly reached out and touched one.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?" She glanced at him, a flower in her hand. "Oh, this?"

"That."

"I…" _(Don't know. I picked it? It's in my hand. When did I do that?_ Why _did I do that?)_ "I… It looked nice." _(Wait, what? That's not why I picked it. I didn't realize I was - Shit. He's going to be mad at me. I didn't mean to pick it, it just -)_ "Well… Nothing's happening, at least. Look." She turned towards him, holding the flower towards his face, staring at it, wanting him to see the beauty -

He squinted at her, pushing her hand away. "Are you alright?"

She dropped the flower, pulling her hand away from his. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm - yeah. Distracted. Fine." They continued down a straight path, which turned left.

"Just… Don't pick anymore. Like the orchard, remember?"

"Right. Right." _(Why did I do that? That was stupid. Like dangerous stupid. Maybe it's the flowers. Maybe they want me to pick them.)_ She looked at them, concerned. _(But they'd been so nice so far… I don't want this one to turn…)_

But nothing was happening. No flowers were caving in on themselves or bursting into flame, and she wasn't bleeding. She looked at the hand she'd grabbed the flower with, just to be sure. Bandaged, but no new blood. Sarah chuckled, grateful.

"What are you laughing about?"

"I'm not bleeding." She inhaled. _(My blood is red… I wonder if the flowers have something to do with my blood. I hope not.)_

"What?"

"Nothing." She laughed again. "It's just… I like the flowers, I think."

"I thought you didn't trust the flowers." He was smiling slightly.

"I've considered my options and changed my mind." Sarah sniffed. "Focus on the road."

"The road is… Focused. I'm fine."

"Ok. I'll help." Sarah stared at the ground, hard. It seemed to help her footing.

"That's - that's helping, is it?"

"Isn't it?" She looked up at him, serious. His face was… Silver. Silver and dark. Light and dark. She paused, watching the shadows and highlights, the way his skin caught the light…

He smirked at her, shaking his head at the path and suddenly Sarah couldn't look away. He really was… Beautiful. No way around it.… Maybe there was something to being an elf, like it automatically made you etherial. His high cheekbones, his vampire-like teeth when he smiled, his long, silvery, feather hair… It almost shone in the light.

 _(When did he become… Like this?)_ Sarah blinked, slowly. No. That wasn't the right question.

 _(Why did you want me to stay, when -…)_

 _(When did_ I _begin to… Notice. When did… He…)_

It was more than his looks though, it was the way he carried himself, his speed and the flow of his body as he moved next to her, the way his arm held hers, firmly, keeping her not captive, but keeping her safe, protected. His proud nose, those eyebrows, constantly making her try to guess his emotion… His eyes, dark and light, moon and stars… She couldn't see them, he was staring ahead, but she knew.

 _(Why am I thinking this now? When did he… He's so… Next to him, I'm a zombie, a decaying zombie, but he is… He's…)_

She kept staring, trying to re-memorize his face, like she was seeing it for the first and last time…

The last time…

No, this wouldn't be the last time. She would see him again, she was going to make sure of that. She felt sudden tears prickling in her eyes, but she didn't need them now. She was going to fix this Labyrinth with him, they were going to be together and solving it, together… She frowned. Together. The word was a puzzle. Together. Two people.

 _(Solving. Working. Fixing. Right. That's right. Me and him, them, us. Us, together, me and him and then…)_

 _-_ And then they would fix everything and she would leave and then she would see him again, she _had_ to, she couldn't leave this… Him…

 _(Him and this. This place is his… His…)_

"Do you like what you see?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye, his mouth hitching up just slightly.

"Huh?" She blinked again, slowly.

"You're staring."

"Yes. You're… Shining." Sarah shook her head. No, shining wasn't the word she'd wanted to use. Not shining. "No, you're…" There wasn't a word for what he was. "Yes."

He turned to look at her slightly, a strand of hair falling into his face. "Yes?"

"Stars." She reached out, pulling the strand back, and paused again, staring at her fingers. _(I touched it. Him. Stupid. Let go.)_

But she couldn't seem to remember how, and didn't want to, because now there was another, more pressing thought.

 _(I forgot his hair was so soft.)_

"Are you alright?"

"Your eyes are stars." She didn't mean to say the words, but there they were. "I'll…" Something was coming back to her. A song. A melody. "I'll place the sky within your eyes… That's… You. You have the sky within your eyes… What… Why do I know that?"

"It's a song." He said it quietly, watching her, turning them right as the path branched.

"I can't… Remember…" Sarah suddenly felt very confused. "I can't…" She looked at the flowers. There were less roses here, less daisies, too. There were mostly… That one flower, of course the one she couldn't remember. It was in a picture in her house somewhere, but the name… Just like the song, Sarah couldn't remember. _(Can't think of the answers, can't think, it's just us, in the flowers, in the scent, in the scarlet…)_

He opened his mouth to say something, and they hit a third dead end. He paused, looking around.

"Another…" She frowned with him, his hair slipping from her fingers. _(He's supposed to see the path… To feel the right way…)_

"I…"

"Are _you_ alright?" She looked up at him, trying to… _(To look at the sky…)_

"Yes, I… I'm just tired. We're getting closer though."

"I'm… Sorry."

"It is hardly your fault, precious."

 _(Precious…)_

 _(Gollum isn't the same as a goblin, though. Is he?)_

 _(What?)_

 _(I… Don't. Know. Gollum Goblin. Is that something important? I should remember that. Maybe It'll solve the Labyrinth…)_

They turned back down the path. Sarah watched the flowers bobbing up and down, waving in slow motion, the snow powdery under her foot. She looked up at the clouds above them, trying to see the flakes as they fell, watching them spiraling down was mesmerizing -

She walked into the flowers. Crunching was suddenly all around her, her hands tangling with the stiff rope-like stalks, surrounded by the sticky, sweet scent of red, a wall of it. "Oh! What!?"

He'd steered them into the bushes, and she'd just - gone with him. He pulled them back, stumbling slightly.

Sarah stared up at him, clutching at her arm as he steadied himself. "What happened?"

"I - you weren't looking."

"But…" _(Shouldn't he have at least tried to stop me? Did I really pull both of us into the wall? Or was that just - him? Did he lead us into the flowers? Was he not watching where he was going?)_ "…Ok." She watched him rub the bridge of his nose. "I guess… We'll both concentrate on the path."

One step forward, then another, then another, left and right, both going straight, keeping forward, not wavering, not crashing. Stay the corse. Sarah watched the snow cover their previous footprints as they doubled back along the path. Finally they reached the branch and went the opposite direction, the flowers completely…

Completely one. All the other varieties had disappeared. It was just that one now. She still couldn't think of the name, but she was too busy concentrating on the path when they reached another fork, and he stopped.

"Which way?" Sarah squinted against the scarlet walls around her.

"Just a minute…" He looked confused, moving his head left slowly, and then right. "It's… The right."

She took a step forward. He didn't move with her.

"Could we… Stop a moment?"

 _(Actually, that sounds pretty good.)_ Sarah crouched stiffly on the ground, but he flopped into the snow, legs sprawled.

She frowned, confused by his movement. "Are you… _Tired?"_ _(No, don't ask that, that's stupid, he doesn't get ti-)_

"Very."

 _(Oh.)_

Sarah stared out at the snow again. It was beautiful, softly falling snow in the gently waving flowers, motion on motion. She hummed something, reaching her hand out towards the flowers, then stopping, placing it on the ground.

 _No touching. Just like Toby. No touching. Toby…_

She thought back to him, smiling and happy, innocent and young, taken by goblins, goblins and kings who weren't… What she'd thought…

Sarah frowned in concentration, looking away from the flowers and down at her hand, then blinked. It was covered in snow. What?

 _(When did that happen? When was I sitting long enough for that to happen?)_

It wasn't a thick coating, melting as she brushed it off, perplexed. She glanced over at him, but his eyes were glazed.

 _(Glazed? What? He doesn't get tired, he doesn't glaze over. What's wrong with him? Is he freezing again!?)_

"Hey!" She grabbed his shoulder.

He glanced at her hand, as if confused by her touch. "What?"

"We need to move! We're getting snowed on!"

"Well, yes."

"No, we're - look at your shoulder… It's got snow all over it… How long have we been sitting here?" She glanced around, but there was no way to tell, and he wasn't moving. "We'll get to the end and then we can rest, ok?" She stood, holding out her hands to pull him up, but he just pulled her back down, making her fall beside him. She struggled out of the snow. "Ok, not funny. Get up!"

He shook his head, quiet. "I just need a minute -"

Sarah breathed, trying to think, staring at the snow… White and delicate and perfectly still, like marshmallows, like lace, like…

 _(Like freezing to death in a cave.)_

She shook herself out of it. "You've had a couple minutes! Come on!"

He sighed angrily but got up, dragging his feet as they went down the right path. She relaxed a little; once they were moving he seemed to be fine, going slower than usual, but she'd let him rest as soon as they were out of the snow. They continued slowly down another passage, reaching a break in the wall. He said nothing, but stopped when she did.

She glanced at him. "Here? Do we go straight? Or left?"

He shrugged. "Straight. I think. It doesn't really matter."

"It kind of does, it - hey!" He sat down on the ground again. "No!" _(Again?)_ "Get up! Come on! We're almost there, right? You said -"

"I just need… Just a little rest."

"But…."

He cradled his head in his hands and she sighed.

 _(I can let him rest a second, can't I? Just one second and then I'll make him move. And then once we're out of this one, he can take a nap for all I care.)_

Although she had to admit, this was the perfect Labyrinth to take a nap _in,_ besides the snow. Nothing was attacking, the walls of flowers were a soft oasis of beauty, and it was… Peaceful. Besides, who was she to deny him a break after all they'd gotten through? Especially after she'd nearly frozen him. She sighed. Her eyes wandered, gazing, getting lost in the red, that solid, singular red of the one flower, staring at it, into it, until the world tilted rather slowly at first and then too quickly and she was falling -

 _(Ow! What -)_

Pain. Dull, discomforting and most definitely bruise-inducing.

She'd fallen onto him. _Into_ him. When had that happened? She didn't remember getting dizzy or losing her balance, but she had crashed into him as she'd fallen sideways. He let out a muffled grunt, but did nothing.

 _(Ok, that's it. What's happening to me. Am I losing my gravity? We need to leave.)_ "Time to get up!"

Nothing. She reached for his hair to pull it.

 _(Soft. So soft. Like water, so straight and smooth…)_

She ran her fingers through it, tracing his head, her hands falling through it. _(No! Wake him up!)_ She tugged, reluctantly. Another grunt. _(His hair is so soft… And the feathers… Feather in hair… It's so…)_

 _(No, no!)_ She shook her head, trying to clear it, squinting her eyes against… What? Distraction? His hair? _(I have to keep moving!)_ She pulled again. The grunt was angrier.

"I know you can hear me! Get up!" She shook him, then forced his arm around her shoulder, panting against his weight as she tried to pull him. He sagged forwards with her, legs like jelly. "Ok, ok, it easy, just… Straight ahead, right? Let's go, Goblin goon…"

"Just a moment…" He didn't even finish the sentence. Snow dripped from his hair, his head rolling, and he laid it against hers as she stumbled on.

"Whoa! Hey! Personal sp- hello?" _(What's wrong with him? What's going on? Is it the snow? The flowers? How? I can't think… I want a rest too… God that sounds… Heavenly… And he's so heavy…)_

She blinked slowly, but continued pulling them forward, stumbling until she reached a sharp corner. "Here we go. Is this the right w-"

He slid off her shoulder, and fell with a dull thump onto the snow, his hand pulling hers down with him.

"No, no! Get up… Come on, please?" She knelt beside him, trying to shake him. "Hello!?"

No response. Her brain was foggy. _(What is happening? Is he alive? Is he dying? Did he use up his magic?)_

She put her head on his chest, listening for his heartbeat. It was slow, but it was there.

"Come on, talk to me! What's - what's wrong with you!?" Her voice sounded so tired, so weak and swallowed in the snow… "Please? Come on!" _(What is this? We're not in danger, but… But I can't think. Why can't I think right?)_

It was more than not thinking right. There was a cloud on her brain, a thick gelatinous block that made her feel dull. _(I feel like I'm sick, or like I'm…)_

 _(Come to think of it, I'm pretty tired myself…)_

 _(No, Sarah. Don't fall asleep. Look how well that's worked out for him, half-buried in the snow.)_

A thought swam through her mind slowly, dawning on her. Snow… Cold…

 _(He's going to freeze again… Just like the caves…)_

The cloak. She pulled it off, her fingers weak, scrabbling at the buckle, trying to arrange it on him. It wasn't that cold without it, and he hadn't mentioned loosing temperature, so he was probably fine, but… She shook her head, hard, struggling to stand.

 _(Something is wrong here. I feel… I should be scared, or mad, or something but I just feel… Heavy, and I can't think… I can't solve anything if I can't think… I wish he would wake up… I need to help him…)_

She stared at his prone fallen body, wanting an answer, her breath drifting up to meet the snowflakes, breathing in the sweet smell of the flowers.

 _(Please… Snow… Labyrinth… Flowers… Think come on think you useless…_

 _Red flowers… Snow Ice Queen…)_

But they'd beaten that one already and the only flowers in the Snow Queen had been roses.

 _(And there's no more roses anymore… Just that one kind…)_

They'd _been_ red flowers, a whole ocean of reds and crimsons and scarlets, but now… Now they were just one red flower. Just a sweet, sticky, red flower, they'd all become one, a flat bright red, matte on glistening snow…

 _(So… Why?)_ She wanted so badly to close her eyes, to concentrate, but she didn't want to fall asleep.

 _(Did something happen to the other flowers? Did they disappear? Or…_

 _Or… Was this one flower hiding the whole time?)_

Did that even make sense? Her eyes hurt from staying open.

 _(God I feel dead, I just want to lay down…)_

A fine snow was already beginning to cover him as she stood, staring at nothing, trying to puzzle something together with a mind like a thick soup. Maybe sitting - or laying next to him, yes, laying on the ground, didn't seem like such a bad idea. Going to sleep in flowers… No one died from that.

 _(But then what? Freeze? I mean you can't die from flowers, but you_ can _die in snow.)_

 _(Well,)_ She thought tiredly, that one nitpicking voice at the back of her mind. _(You_ can _technically die in flowers, if you… Got stabbed in a flower field, or had a heart attack, or… Didn't move, never left, if you starved, if there was a fire somehow, if the flowers were poisonous…)_

 _(If the flowers were poisonous?)_

Her bleary mind grabbed onto the word like a lifeline. Poisonous. Something twitched in her subconscious, a nagging feeling. _(Poison. Skull and crossbones. Like pirates, but not that.)_ Sarah looked around uneasily. Flowers that were poisonous… _(In stories? In my stories? Which stories have poisonous flowers?)_ They weren't common, but…

 _(Poison flowers… Red in the snow…)_

"Snow white."

 _(What? No, that wasn't - that wasn't it at all. There wasn't even flowers in Snow White, it was an apple! A poison that puts you to sleep, it confuses you, it warps things… Like a dream… Come on, Williams…)_ "Sleeping Beauty." _(No, you already guessed that earlier. These aren't roses anymore. They were, but now they're something else… Come on…)_ "Ow." She whispered.

Her head hurt, pounding, her brain trying to push out an answer against every other part at her body that cried out to forget it and sleep. There was an answer here, she knew it.

Sarah reached out, watching her hand in slow motion. She grabbed a flower, pulling, and watched it bend, like a long thick noodle, down towards her as she tugged, her fingers moving at the same tired speed as her brain. It finally broke off, the stem snapping, and she looked at it hard, marveling at the red in its soft petals. She rubbed her fingers across the delicate texture, touching it, smelling it, drinking in the scent.

 _(It smells… Sticky… And… Thick… Somehow… Like I'm floating… In my bed…)_

Sarah hadn't realized her eyes were closed until she opened them. _(Shit. No. Come on.)_ This flower, this flower, she knew it, she'd seen a picture of it…

She thought back. The picture, and it was in her parent's bedroom, and it was called… Called…

She crushed the flower in her hand as she tried to remember, and the scent overwhelmed her, petals and pollen spilling out, seeds falling between her fingers…

 _(Seeds… Tiny black seeds… Like…)_ "A bagel."

 _(… What? A bagel?)_

 _(Yeah, a bagel. A poppyseed bagel.)_ "Poppy…" The word fell from Sarah's mouth slowly, her lips numb, breath a whisper. "Poppies…"

 _(Poppies, come on Williams… Poppies… A field of poppies and snow… Red and white and eternal sleep…)_

"Oz…?" She breathed.

 _(Oz…)_ She screwed up her eyes at the flower, willing it to tell her, to give her a sign. _(Oz… Does that fit…? Can it…? I read Oz, but… Flowers in Oz… Far away… Dorothy and the Lion fell asleep in the poppies… A field of poppies that made them fall asleep… But the only thing that broke the poppy's spell was snow… Or mice, depending on which version you went with…)_

But… She frowned. Snow had never made sense to her. Cold water, maybe, but snow? The cold? People fell asleep in blizzards and winter all the time, and they never woke up, dying slowly as they froze to death… So why would Glinda think snow would wake them up…

 _(And I can't get mice to carry me out, like the book…)_

She felt her lids sagging with weight - it hurt to blink. She massaged her eyes, feeling her frozen eyelashes, leaning on -

on him. When had she sat down?

 _(No, no, get up Williams! You're awake, and he's asleep, and you have to help him. Poppies. Oz. Let's say it's Oz. Come on. You've got snow, you've got no mice, but why did Dorothy fall asleep in the first place?)_

It hurt to think. "Because… It was a spell by… Wicked…"

That wasn't right. The witch hadn't cast it in the book, they'd been natural, maybe… Maybe because it was based on something… On poppies, on sleeping and effects and poppies… "Poppies make…"

 _(Opium. Opium which makes you tired and numb… And this smell… So sweet, so dense…. Sticky, smokey, I can feel it when I breathe it in, like a smoldering flower… Poppies make opium, and opium makes you…)_

 _(High.)_ She blinked. _(High. I'm… High? On opium? And is that why - he's been going in circles? Why he's acted confused and why I've been… Disjointed?)_

It didn't… _Not_ fit.

 _(It's - I think it might be. It's… Not crazier than the… Monster mirrors. Or the mushrooms, or the… Crystals. The flowers, their scent, that heavy sugar aroma… The one I've practically been huffing, no wonder I can't think…)_ She felt a quiet dread but it didn't spread throughout her, it just hung, fading away slowly into her calm. _(That's the trap. That's the poison. It's opium. Ok. Ok. So how do you beat an invisible sleeping gas?)_

 _(You don't breathe it in. But I can't_ not _breathe…)_

She paused, watching her own air spiral out in front of her face, considering, trying to hold her breath and think, think of how -

 _(Holding my breath - my lungs - I can't not breath - no. This won't work, I don't -)_

 _(Yes.)_

 _(Yes?)_

 _(Yes, actually, you can, you can do that. You've done it before. When you can't think, when you get scared, your breath shortens, and - and I panic. I panic and there's too much adrenaline. But -)_

 _(But I can't pull him and do that! I can barely walk when I have a panic attack, and - and I might pass out!)_

 _(Have you ever passed out before?)_

 _(No, but -…_

 _…_ _But…)_

Sarah looked sleepily at his face, a light dusting of snow steadily growing thicker, brushing it off his eyes. _(Come on. Beat this.)_

 _(But I'm calm… I don't want to…)_

 _(Well, I don't want to die in a field of poppies, frozen next to him and letting everyone wither away when I could have saved them. And I can't think of anything else.)_

She expelled her breath, slowly. Panic. Anxiety. Fear. How was she going to do this? A panic attack would shorten her breath, would flood her system with electrical impulses and adrenaline and fear and while she knew the science behind it, she didn't know where she was going… And she wasn't sure she could control it… But she had to try…

A voice at the back of her mind screamed at her how stupid this was, but it was easy to ignore, everything was easy to ignore…

 _(So this will be easy too. Come on. Not much time left. I'm fading.)_

She didn't want to close her eyes, so she stared at the sky, ignored his body, and tried to, for the first time, _not_ breathe….

 _(It starts when my chest closes, when my lungs can't get enough air. There's so much air, but there's not enough for my lungs, they're not big enough and I -)_

Sarah forced shallow breath after shallow breath, placing her tingling hand on her chest, feeling it heave as she began to cough, her body fighting her. _(No. Come on._ _Short, short breaths.)_

 _(Your body, collapsing in on you. You need air but you can't get air, you are suddenly a reversed fish and there is nothing for you to inhale…)_

Her heartbeat increased slightly, lurching within her chest.

 _(Spots usually appear at some point, but I've got to get it right before that… I've got to aim for it right before I can't move…)_

Up, down, up, down, fighting, fighting, fighting herself - Sarah felt the prickle, the small jolts of tingles her body sent through, numbness through her fingers, the back of her neck, her eyes, which filled with smarting tears, her nose was twitching -

 _(That's it that's it come on, come on -)_

Her brain wasn't foggy anymore, it was just dark flashes, patches of black and darts of white, trying to survive, trying to get air, to live -

She was choking. She was choking and moving, but she wasn't going to be able to keep moving if she fell asleep, if she breathed in this poison, sweet, sticky poison that was death, and the thought pushed her, tipping her forward suddenly into the chasm of hot fear. Sarah felt the rush, the hard, hard rush as adrenaline hit her body, flooding her with heat, trying to get her to move, the tingling becoming full stinging as she started to tremble all over, lungs now moving in their own pattern, skipping heartbeats, hyperventilating in overcompensation -

 _(I don't have much time get up get up -)_

She stood, unsteadily on shaking knees, trying to battle her dizziness, her head clear but dangerously focused. She could only think of one thing at a time, and she had to get him, she had to move him -

 _(heavy.)_

Sarah flipped him over so he laid on the cloak, grabbed the bottom of it and _pulled_ , dragging him forward like a sled, sinking into the snow from the weight. He was heavy and she wasn't strong, but she didn't have time, every second counted as the snow fell and her heart struggled - she blinked blurry blackness away -

 _(Straight ahead we're close he said he said we're close so it has to be this way it must be please god -)_

She yanked and tripped, landing hard on her ass. Sarah struggled to get up, weakness and strength flooding her all at once, her veins weren't built for this, her _body_ wasn't built for this, so she just blindly heaved, heaved and pulled him forward, down the path faster and faster, she was trying to run against him and for him. Trying not to breathe and not to pass out, her heart jolting, screaming against her lungs.

She reached the end of the path and it branched into two, left and right.

 _(No no straight he said straight he said I can't - straight -)_

She leaned over, wheezing, still holding onto the cloak. There was no straight, there was only a wall of flowers, and she didn't know right or left. Her head froze, her mind running through _right left straight right left straight right left -_

" _Fuck._ " Sarah hissed, and heaved, her legs giving out, the last of her strength pitching her forward as her legs buckled, falling straight into the wall of flowers. All she smelled was sticky and all she saw was red and black, black seeds and black spots and red, forever red. She was falling into snow and stems and leaves and -

sun.

Sarah hit the ground, cushioned by flowers that snapped and bent around her. She lay there, in heat and warmth, trying to breathe.

She couldn't really see. Not that she needed to. Trying to not black out was the more prominent goal. There was just a lot of red, and dust, and also darkness. But she felt heat, coming from somewhere.

 _(So I probably did something right. I hope.)_

 _(Or, this is hell. And I died.)_

 _(Either way, I hope I can breathe again eventually.)_

There was a million things she should be doing. Getting all the way out of the poppies, for example. The little air she was getting was still filled with sweet opium, and her eyes were closing, fast. But everything was far away, far, far away.

 _(If I'm not dead, I think I might be dying.)_

It was a familiar thought she often had during the attacks, but it usually occurred in the comfort of her home, or at least in a world filled with humans that might notice her and call an ambulance…

 _(No, really, I think I might be dying. I've never had a panic attack while huffing poppy narcotics. What happens when you take an upper and a downer at the same time? I don't know how much stress my body can handle. This might be it. And then he'll wake up and find my body.)_

Great. Well, she'd given it her best shot.

 _(I didn't know what else to do. It's not like I could summon mice or call Glinda. Besides, maybe sacrificing me will restore balance.)_

It didn't seem like a far-fetched idea, especially given her success rate.

The warmth was very persistent, and it was on her back, she thought. What used to be her back. She couldn't really connect to it, it all was very far away, and her body was rubbery, like she was floating outside of it.

 _(Please let this be a quick death.)_ She was numb. This was it. She just needed to fade out now, ride the ebbing tide of numbness into oblivion, and -

The heat was really getting quite hot. A bone-dry wind pushed against her, dust now mixing away the sticky scent. She frowned into the poppies. The wind persisted, tangling her hair, and she could feel the dust hitting her face.

 _(I think the breeze is… Helping. Clearing the air.)_

It wasn't. Now instead of opium she was inhaling dust and a baking heat. But she clung to the possibility that maybe it was, maybe it was calming her, and she tried to believe it.

 _(Or at least believe it enough to get up and fully away.)_

Sarah still couldn't stand, but she lifted her head, blinded instantly by bright sun, squeezing her eyes shut against it.

 _(Why do all the senses need to attack me at once!? Now I can't see or breathe!? Really? I can barely use my hands, too, so there goes touch -)_

She crawled into a sort of kneeling crouch, panting at the effort, poppies snapping around her, keeping her eye screwed up against the light. She tried to grip his cape. It was impossible. The fabric slipped between the numbness of her arms and the soreness of her fingers. She clumsily grappled with it again, sandwiching it between her two curled fists, using her teeth to bite down on it, which limited her shallow gasps for air, but she had to pull him through, had to get him over the poppies -

"Ugh." He groaned, then sat up, looking around blearily. He found her eyes. "What happened?"

The cloak limply dropped from her mouth and she fell back, energy finally spent.

 _(Good. He's alive. I can die in peace now.)_

"Where are we?" She heard his horribly persistent voice from afar. "What are you doing?"

Sarah said nothing, just wheezed in his general direction. She laid on the crushed poppies, a puddle of wet snow and now sweat in the bright sun, heart pounding against her squeezing chest, as if begging to be released.

 _(Breathe, Williams, breathe. In two three out two three he's ok two three you're did it two three -)_

"What happened?" He asked again, his voice closer but still just as annoyingly alive.

She twitched her hand towards her chest, pressing it over her racing heart with as much pressure as she could muster, which wasn't a lot. ( _Maybe I can force my heart to stay inside.)_ All she felt was the rapid beating as well as her shallow breathing. _(Or not. Fuck.)_

 _(Cold!)_

Sarah's eyes flew open. His head blocked the sun, hair swinging into her face, cool hand pushing hers aside, feeling her heart. He was frowning, looking at her with…

Worry.

His eyes darted down to his hand and back to her face. "Your heart is very fast -"

"I'm…" Was all she could manage. She arranged her shaking hand into a thumbs up, trying to tell him she was ok. _(Loosely speaking.)_

His worry was stamped out with obvious apathy at her motion. She closed her eyes, trying to get more air to speak.

 _(So great I can turn on anxiety like a light switch, but I can't turn it off. Totally a great skill. Completely saved us. Genius job, Williams.)_

"What… Happened?" There was an urgency to the tone, and she looked up again to see the worry back in his face. "A spell, a trap? Are you hurt? Should I -"

"No…" _(No. No magic. Not for this. Don't waste it on something… Ordinary. On this. On me.)_ "Just… Wait…" _(For me. Stay here and don't move while I take a quick five to recover. Or a day.)_

But she couldn't get the sarcasm out any more than she could the sentence, closing her eyes again, the world spinning too much to keep them open. Something moved under her hair, and a very dull sense told her it was his hand, cradling her head, his other cool one still pressed over her heart. She couldn't think about it, just breathing, that was all the thought room she had left, and they sat in silence.


	24. Mornings of Fields of Gold

A/N: Happy New Years! I am so thankful for the wonderful humans in my life who graced me throughout the year and holiday season! It's so nice to feel happy. Also I'm about to eat dinner so I'm just generally overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude as I type this RICE4LIFE. This update is a TINY bit later than I wanted it to be but if all goes well hopefully the sister chapter will be out within this week (!?) (no promises but I will hope). Thank you for the follows and kinds words on my last chapter! I feel like I should note that a hypothetical argument be presented that these next challenges drag out the story but I'm trading adventure with character development and I love writing them so... As always, thank you for everything, but especially for sticking around! I hope this year brings you good things, whether that means in the moment or good things being put into motion for the years to come. If that makes sense. I need to eat. ONWARD, YALL! 

**Mornings of Fields of Gold**

Eventually, after what felt like hours, Sarah felt the raw edge of whatever it was - panic, adrenaline, her clamoring heart - fraying away, slowly. Her breathing lengthened and she opened her eyes, still jittery.

"I need to… Move." Her voice shook, but at least she could talk. "Walk… It off."

In an instant, he was on his feet, lifting her up. She pinwheeled her arms, gasping, the action of standing so suddenly throwing her. Her heart lurched again as he grabbed her, cradling her shoulders and steadying her as she flailed.

"I apologize - I didn't think -" He began.

"Too - fast -" She waited until the world balanced out, letting him hold her up as he seemed like the only solid thing at the moment. "Ok. I'm ok. I need to… Walk it off."

"Yes." He gripped her shoulder, the other hand grabbing her arm hard, as if by sheer force he could keep her upright.

She took one shaky step forward, feeling drained of everything, the poppies still underfoot. They snapped under her as she moved forward, the red squashed beneath her boots.

 _(Red toxic shit.)_

Sarah tread on them as much as she could. Red and green, red and green, all of it poisonous, another step and another and - "Oh…"

She'd stepped onto gold. Shinning, brilliant gold, flashing in the sun. The ground gleamed and beamed, refracting back the light at her. Dazzling pebbles and rocks, creating a dusty metallic and matte path. She shielded her eyes, looking up from the path to see - green. Green walls, more _plant_ walls, some kind of corn stalks she thought, a rich dark emerald color.

 _(A corn Labyrinth?)_

But it was more than that. The gold and yellow disappeared into the corn… A yellow and gold path _… (Gleaming, shining, gold…_

 _…_ _Emerald green and golden yellow.)_ Sarah smiled. She knew this Labyrinth. She knew it already.

"It's a rather extravagant path." He observed her gaze.

"The… Walls though." She twitched a smile.

"It's a plant. Of some variety."

"It's _corn." (A corn Labyrinth.)_ She wanted to look up at him, but even the thought of twisting her head around was tiring. "You know… What corn is?"

"I've heard of it." He started down the path. "Can it make us sleep?"

Sarah shook her head, letting him lead. "No, it's… This is different. It's… This is Oz."

"You said it was corn."

She let out a shaky laugh, moving them forward, his arms still clutching possessively - _no. Protectively -_ at her. "Yellow brick road. And corn. That's from Oz."

He didn't respond.

 _(He won't know what that means, you idiot.)_

The leaves brushed against her arms, tickling slightly. It was thin and tall, outgrowing both of their heights as they rounded the bend.

"It's from - there's a story, called the Wizard of Oz -" Sarah began.

"He sounds foolish."

They reached a branch, going left.

"Are you… Jealous of him already?" Sarah laughed. It was shaky again, but it felt good.

"Wizards are notoriously foolish. And the name. Only one syllable. It doesn't roll off the tongue so much as _drop_."

 _(Because 'The Goblin King' sounds so much better?)_ "He was… Pretending to be a wizard, he wasn't a real one, don't… Worry." Sarah explained patiently, only panting slightly. The path turned right. "But there's a cornfield in the book, and a… Road made out of… This." She gestured at the ground. "Yellow bricks. Although, in the book it wasn't this… Gold. This type."

"What was the point of the path?"

She considered. _(Did it have a point? I don't think so.)_ "It just… Showed them where to go."

"I fear we shall not have the same luxury." He observed as they reached a dead end.

"Well, as long as there's no scarecrows or lions or -" It dawned on her that he wouldn't get the joke. "Nevermind. But Oz… Is where the poppies are from, too."

"There wasn't a yellow path in the poppies."

"Maybe the snow covered it." She shook her head.

"I'm more concerned about what happened to you." The path circled itself, and he retraced their steps. "When I awoke, you were -"

"It was… A panic attack." She felt her voice hitch on the word, but forced another sunny breath down. _(I made myself have one and I will fix myself, too.)_

"How…" He cleared his throat and she heard the frown in his voice. "A panic…"

"It's… An adrenaline rush. Humans…" _(How am I going to explain this to a luminescent elf.)_ "Humans… Have them sometimes. They come from being too - scared. The body thinks… Its in danger, so… It gives you adrena- energy. A lot. Too much, all at once. So I… Gave myself… One. It's like -" She was struggling on her limited air and words. "It's like… When you healed me, ok? Like that. But like I gave… Myself a big - a big dose of "magic" all at once… Kind of? But - too much… If that makes sense."

"But why did you -"

"I can… Kind of control it."

"Control it?" He narrowed his eyes, looking down at her. She could feel his glare boring into the top of her skull as she avoided his gaze. "You were nearly dead when I came to."

 _(Nice try, but you can't make me anymore stressed or guilty than I already was feeling, glitter boy.)_ "No, I just… I know it was… A bit much… But I also needed to get us out. The poppies were -

"You said they just put us to sleep. They weren't going to kill us."

"You don't know that! You…" She forced another breath down. "Passed out! It was all opium, it was a - drug, I couldn't even think straight! In fact, a panic attack was - the only thing I could think of -"

" _I_ would have woken up." He halted them, pulling her arm back when she tried to move forward, making her turn around and face him. " _I_ would have -"

"You didn't even know what was happening!" Her heartbeat was speeding up again. _(Not good.)_ "I -"

" _You_ were foolish." His tone was angry now, the grip on her elbow tensing. " _You_ risked your -"

Her lungs tightened with his grip as she protested. "It wasn't - my life. I would've just - fainted."

"Facedown in the snow, or perhaps the plants themselves? Your heart was -"

"It - always does that. When I - panic. I'm - used to these. I know what - I'm doing!"

He raised his eyebrow. "Ah yes, that must have been why I found you lying prone on the ground."

"It - look, it wasn't - the best idea. I - know that." She glared at him, fighting her closing throat. _(Asshole. I'm gonna have another attack if you keep yelling at me, then we'll see who's "foolish". Watch.)_

But she didn't want to. And she wasn't sure if her heart could handle another one so closely. She forced a shallow breath down.

He saw her breath, and spoke, trying to cut her off. "Pushing yourself without a plan, without help, is completely -"

"I'm - sorry." She forced the words out over the sound of her pounding heart. "But we didn't have a choice. I didn't - know what to do. I couldn't think, I was worried, and - we didn't have options! Hell, _I -_ didn't have options. I was about to sleep right there with you!"

Pause. She heard her words. Then she listened to them.

 _(Wait what. Oh god. No -)_ "I was - about to - to f- fall asleep… _Fall_ asleep - In the snow. In the poppies. You were there. I -" Now her heart seemed to have stopped again, sinking and then grinding to a painful halt at her embarrassment. _(Fuck. Fuck! That's not what I meant -)_

His glare cracked suddenly as he suppressed a laugh into a snort.

"Oh because _you…_ Had it under control!" Sarah snapped, desperately pulling away to avoid his stupid juvenile expression and her undoubtedly blushing face. "You were - fainting, and, and, losing the path, and -"

"Y _ou_ were also exhibiting strange behavior, were you not?" Gone was the anger at her, replaced with a mock-innocent curiosity.

 _(Why. What is he doing. Me? Strange behavior? Is he still talking about my panic attack or -)_

She stiffened, remembering.

The fields. The poppies. They'd… Her brain had… They'd made her high. She'd said things. _Weird_ things. The memories were foggy and Sarah couldn't quite remember… A vague image stirred, of her hands, reaching out to touch his hair, and - "Oh god. What did I do? What did I -" She felt her face drain. "I'm sorry if I - what - I don't remember - it was the poppies -"

"My memory is slightly hazy on the subject." He whispered-laughed again and she looked back at the path, mortified.

 _(What did I say? I just remember the flowers… I think I looked at him at some point… Grabbing a strand of his hair, I think?)_

She kicked at the ground, sending some of the gold chunks flying forward, a small cloud of dust puffing up.

 _(A strand of hair? You stroked his head and told him his eyes were stars - shit. Fucking poppies. Goddamn-fucking-opium-poppies that made me high, high enough to think he was beautiful, enough to make me - no, no, don't panic, he says he doesn't remember, it's fine, it's fine.)_ "Well… We're out of there now!" Sarah dipped under a stalk. The leaves were brushing into her face, obscuring her view partially, which she was fine with. He didn't need to see how red she was getting, though he could undoubtably tell by the way he was teasing her. "And I totally… Forget anything I said -" _(- or did -)_ "So as long as you're not… Falling asleep and I can breathe, we're good." _(And we can never talk about this again.)_

"I _do_ recall you said something about me looking like a star, and you stroked my head -" He said it casually, quietly, in an offhand manner that sounded like he was talking about the weather.

She whipped towards him. "I - you said you forgot!"

"And I thought you said _you_ forgot?" He tilted down towards her, grinning.

"Shut up. I didn't -" Sarah stammered. The color had returned to her face twofold, and the sun she'd been enjoying was suddenly helping her sweat a lot more than she wanted. Her heart leaped again in her chest, that weird panicky jolt, and -

 _(This isn't about panicking. He's just messing with you. Breathe. He looked like a star?_ _Why did I say that?)_

 _(I WAS HIGH, I DON'T NEED A REASON, THERE WASN'T ONE.)_

She tore her eyes away to look at the path, which snaked to the right. The gold in the bricks caught the light, and she screwed her eyes up against it. _(Why did I_ do _that!?)_

 _(Again, becausE I WAS H-)_

 _(- Because he looked beautiful, and his hair was incredibly soft…)_

That was it. It was coming back to her now. Her demented stoned logic.

 _(Keep it cool, Williams. Play it off.)_ She took a shallow dusty breath. "It was - meant to be a compliment." She tried to sound as causal as him.

"And I took it as such. Those are so rare, coming from you." The purr was back in his voice.

 _(What? That's what he cares about? That I told him he looked pretty? Sparkly Perfect King Spandex needs positive reinforcement from a girl? One who currently looks like a dragon digested her and then threw her back up!? Great. Of course he does. Fucking A.)_

She rolled her eyes as they turned right. "I wasn't - _aware_ a great and powerful king such as yourself needed - praise from a _human_ , your majesty."

"It never _hurts_ to give praise where it is due, _princess_." He responded without hesitation.

 _(Great.)_ They were back to the 'princess' nickname. She hadn't missed it. "Oh, you want more praise? For what?"

"I'm not picky." He was stared into the corn, the picture of regal concentration except for the full-toothed grin spread across his face.

 _(Good job not being a total asshole? Excellent skills for falling asleep while I gave myself a mini heart attack?)_

She scowled at the rocky ground, the gold metal shining back in her eyes. _(What do I say?)_ She didn't want to completely insult him. Taunting him and raising her BPM wasn't a goal she needed to accomplish at the moment. "Good job navigating, Sire." It wasn't a lie. _(Close enough.)_

The cobblestone - rocks - whatever they were - were becoming more and more gold. The matte yellow was fading out, only a few smaller yellow pebbles remained buried amongst the metallic gold rubble. She tried to scuff her foot on one, but it slid off smoothy, gleaming in the sun.

"Common."

"What?" She looked up at him.

"That was a common observation. Anyone could make it. I am _king_ of this place, I ruled here, of course I'm good at it. It's what I was born to do. If, for instance, I complimented _you_ at being excellent at hurting yourself, then -"

"That's not even - you know what!? You're great at pissing me off."

"That's not hard. You're so _easy."_ He laughed again, a deep throat chuckle, and nudged her slightly.

"You -!" She stumbled sideways, running out of words with her balance.

"See?"

Sarah's blush stretched up to meet her ears and scalp, _but it's partly with rage, ok? Not just because he's teasing me. That_ is _what he's doing. Just give him an easy answer!_

She jutted her chin forward. "You… " _(What? What do I say?)_ She paused, watching his shit-eating grin. _(He had a nice smile.)_

She remembered suddenly. It was an unexpected thought, but it wasn't wrong.

 _(Not now, of course but - he smiled at me, when… Earlier, in the poppies, when we were just… Talking. He can have a nice smile, sometimes, I remember now, like when we were dancing -)_ She froze. _(What? Why am I thinking about that?)_

 _(I don't know, but it's not… Inaccurate.)_

 _(I - sure. It's - I - maybe. But I'm not telling him that! No way.)_ "You… Have a nice… Laugh. Sometimes. Not now. Definitely not just now."

"Was that perhaps a _sincere_ compliment from the great human?"

"It - yes. Fine. _Sometimes._ "

"I shall treasure it always." He looked skywards, his tone rising as his free hand drifted over his heart. "Let it be known that she thinks I look like a star, and I have a sometimes-nice laugh."

"I've created a monster." Sarah muttered to herself. _(Treasure it always. Please. Calm down. Thank god I didn't mention your smile.)_

The path split into several branches. He considered, then chose the middle, which snaked forward in little circular paths. Sarah shaded her eyes against the dusty, shiny earth. It was completely gold now, the metallic light beaming forcefully around them, and more and more it was getting uncomfortable to look at. In all her things she'd brought with her, sunglasses were not something she'd considered needing. The hot breeze wove through the stalks, rustling like a whispery laugh, and Sarah frowned.

 _(His laugh… But really, his smile…)_

 _(Why did I remember that so clearly? It's not like… I held onto the memory, it just - popped out. It's been a long-ass day. Week? How long have we been here? Either way, I've inhaled a lot of opium lately. I didn't mean to realize that. To remember it. I just - it just was there.)_

"Why are you so quiet suddenly?"

"Um… Just… Wondering what's going to happen on this one." She stared at the ground, trying to match her thoughts to what she was saying. "Not that I _want_ it to, it's just, um, nothing is happening -"

"The… Corn is changing."

"What?" It looked the same.

"Watch." He halted, placing a hand on her shoulder, and pointed. The breeze kicked up again, and she watched the corn waving in the wind. Green shifted in the light, catching metallic glints in the sun.

 _Glinting in the sun?_

She paused.

"Wait a second." Sarah stepped closer, reaching out a hand instinctively, then stopped. Gold plants were pretty, but knowing this place, they were also probably sharp, and might slice her already damaged hands. She paused inches away from a stalk, watching as it waved in the wind, the ridges illuminated and shining.

 _(It's… Becoming gold. So the corn is… Morphing? I bet the further we go, the golder this whole place becomes. Like the poppies. The poppies all blended in with the other flowers until they were all poppies… So that means we're getting deeper, but…_

 _Why?)_

"Is this going to be like the orchard again?" He took her arm back cautiously, moving them forward.

"I don't - I don't think so… " _(Not Aladdin, not again, but if the poppies were behind us, and this is still Oz, then… Does this place repeat?)_ But she wondered. _(It's still_ from _something…)_ "When did this happen?" She marveled.

"You _were_ looking down a lot."

 _(Facing the ground was better then letting you see my stupid blushing.)_ "Yeah, but… But I was looking up, too, and -" _(And you distracted me!)_

"So you didn't notice?" He sounded rather pleased with himself.

"I mean, I noticed the _ground_ changed, it's completely gold now, but -" Sarah began.

"Ah. You can add observation to my list of talents, along with a nice laugh, and being a star, and -"

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. "I was watching the path, ok? I was looking where we were going. Otherwise I probably - I could've caught it!" A weak argument, but the only one she had.

The path branched again, and he headed left. She held her hand up to shield her eyes; the light bouncing up from the ground was making her sweat even more than the sun, and she wiped her forehead. If the breeze hadn't been so hot, it might have cooled her, but it was bone dry and dusty, blowing hair and dust into her face.

 _(Ok, let's think about this Labyrinth. It has to be a clue, right?)_

 _(A clue to what? Nothing's attacking you.)_

 _(Let's get there before it does. Something's definitely going to happen. Nothing attacks Dorothy in the cornfield either, but -)_

 _(But… Are you sure this is Oz?)_

She glanced around her. _(Of course I'm sure. A cornfield. A corn Labyrinth. A yellow brick road.)_

It had to be. It had to be Oz… A path of golden cobblestones, a field of corn….

 _(But why is there so much gold? Oz just had yellow bricks, they made a whole song about it, it never said anything about metallic dusty trails with rocks. Does that still count? What does the gold mean?)_

Gold was present in a lot of fairy tales as currency, but she wasn't trapped in coins, so that didn't make sense. There were gold forests sometimes… In the 12 Dancing Princesses, but there'd also been silver and jewels, and it'd been underground… _(You are underground, idiot.)_ Yes, but that fairy tale was different, and it didn't involve any corn…

 _(Rapunzel had gold hair…)_ The wind blew gently, making a high-pitched noise. Sarah watched uneasily as the rapidly-transitioning metal corn didn't wave in the breeze. The wind just simply cut through the plants, whistling against their thin stalks. She shivered at the sound, despite the beaming sunlight, which was now beating down.

 _(There was a golden goose in Jack…)_

 _(That would only apply if this was a beanstalk Labyrinth. And I'm pretty sure beans don't look like this. They're supposed to look like a giant vine. Come on. You're missing something._

 _Gold represents wealth, power… Leprechauns… Beauty…)_ A dead end. They turned.

"Urgh." Sarah wiped her forehead again, feeling her greasy skin and - something felt gritty. She looked down. Her hand came back covered in tiny gold flakes. Great. She was getting covered in dust now. Gold dust. Because everything was gold.

 _(James Bond? Goldfinger?)_

 _(Ha ha very clever, yeah that's the answer.)_ "Are you getting this?" She held up her hand. "It's…"

He turned towards her voice and his hair caught the light, glinting with gold flakes.

She smiled. Of course the boy - _(man - no, elf - whatever he is)_ \- with the silver hair _would_ get gold in it. "It's in your hair."

He ran his free hand through it, shaking out a fine metallic powder that swirled out behind them. "Dust."

"Gold dust." She tried to run a hand through her own hair but only got it caught in her curls. _(And_ _of course I get mine tangled.)_

"And is that in… The wizard's kingdom?"

"No." Sarah sighed out hot dusty air. "And it's making me frustrated. Oz doesn't - gold wasn't in it. Not like this. So maybe it's another story…"

 _(But which one?)_

They reached a prong and he went left. Sarah screwed up her eyes painfully from the glare of the gold Labyrinth. And it was getting more than just hot, she was sweating all over now, her mouth drying out. She closed her eyes, feeling a sunburn starting on her scalp. She needed to hurry up.

 _(Ok, say it's another story. Which one?)_

What fairy tale had gold? Purely gold? Gold corn? Gold path? Wait… She frowned. No, something wasn't right. It wasn't just the path. It was the corn, the path, the wheat, the dust, the ground, the dirt… _Everything_ was gold… A fairy tale where everything was gold. Everything. Everything she saw, everything she touched -

 _(Touched -)_

Sarah's eyes flew open. "MIDAS!" She cried out suddenly.

His grip tightened on her arm in surprise. "Is it panic again? Are you hurt?"

"No - what? I - it's - this isn't Oz, I bet it's Midas!" Sarah bit her lip, then spat, tasting the grit of gold dust. _(Ok ok, think this through, Williams.)_ The breeze whistled past them again and she coughed on the dust cloud that followed it. Midas sounded right, but that still didn't give her answers. "I think… He was all about gold. Gold everything."

The path ended. They turned around, going right, into a circle.

 _(It had to be Midas. Right? It could be… Could fit. There wasn't specifically corn in it, but considering we had a whole Labyrinth that was based off of mushrooms in folklore, I'd say the rules are more like guidelines…)_

"How do we solve his path, then?" He was squinting against the breeze too, his light and dark eyes narrowed into slits.

"I… Don't know. He was a king who wanted to be rich so the gods had given him the touch of gold. So… He was super happy and started touching everything, until he tried to eat and his food turned to gold. Then everything turned to gold. And finally when his daughter hugged him she'd turned to gold too, so he begged the gods to reverse the curse."

"He doesn't sound fit to rule." His tone was mocking. "There is always a price to pay for magic."

"Yeah. But I wonder if this has something to do with it… It's all gold… I need to think." _(So how do I solve this? Midas begged the gods…)_ Why? To ask for forgiveness so they would turn his daughter back?

They hit a dead end again and turned around, walking through the wall of dust they'd kicked up, Sarah shielded her eyes as it spiraled lazily, landing on her hair and clothes, coating them. She tried to wave it out of her face, but could already feel the hot grit of it hitting her skin, sweat running down it like rivulets.

 _(Ok, Williams. You haven't beaten it. You can't just guess the title and expect to be out of it.)_

She sighed, her breathless air joining the dead wind.


	25. Comes With a Price

A/N: "To the surprise of no one, there was no update for a longass time even though the author said there might be in the last update they posted" HAHAHA DIDN'T REALIZE HOW LONG IT HAD BEEN SINCE I UPDATED WHOOPS YALL. JESUS THAT'S ALMOST 2 MONTHS KINDA A NEW LOW. I'M NOT DEAD AND I HAVE CHAPTERS WRITTEN! It's just - time - passed. Fast. Did I lose time? No. Did minor tasks and my sleeping patterns get completely tossed aside in lieu of deadlines that were due? MAYBE. Anyways. Here's a chapter! A new one will be posted very soon! Maybe this coming week! Probably this coming week! Bc I don't like cliffhangers even though I write them! We'll call it a late Valentine's Day treat because I missed that day! Happy Valentine's Day by the way! I hope you all took time to love yourself and treat yourself. That's really what the day should celebrate, not just boy/girl/friends/or lack thereoff! Anyways for THIS chapter: ANGST ANGST ANGST and one answer that I KNOW has got to be bugging at least some of you because it was bugging the hell out of me even typing it! Around it? Whatever. ALSO HOLY HECK 50 FOLLOWERS! WHAT IS THIS!? And even if by typing that it somehow got jinxed and now I'll sink back down to the 40s it was WORTH IT I MADE IT AT ONE POINT IN TIME, LET THE RECORDS SHOW. THANK YOU! Despite the fact that I obviously like to type a lot it's very overwhelming to put into words, but thank you! I'm trying to imagine 50 people reading this and... Nope the visual imagery isn't there. But I know you're out there! (Or it's a lot of bots with a very particular itch for heroines with sass, anxiety and swearing. And vague mysteries.) And lastly, to anyone that figured out this chapter before Sarah: congratulations! Gold star! YALL SHOULD BE THE MAZE RUNNERS! Thank you as always! New chapter very very very soon. Thank u for ur patience (REALLY A LOT), follows, and support, especially when I give you radio silence!

 **Comes with a Price**

 _(Ok, Williams. You haven't beaten it. You can't just guess the title and expect to be out of it.)_

She sighed, her breathless air joining the dead wind. Midas begged the gods because - _… (Because… He'd been wrong. His gift was now his curse.)_ So… That meant…

 _(Do I have to beg forgiveness to get out of here? Or beg forgiveness for making this place? It's kind of now my curse, but - wait, no, I didn't ask for this. I wanted to come back. So who do I say I'm sorry to? There's no god, and I didn't pray for -)_

 _(Ah, but Sarah… Didn't you wish? Wish to a magical being?)_

 _(Who…_ him _?)_

No. No way. Forgiveness for what? What would she even ask?

 _(Saying I'm sorry for asking to come back doesn't make sense. I'm not sorry I'm back. I mean, I am now that I'm beaten to a pulp, but it's better than sitting and wasting away. So… What would I say sorry to him about now that I haven't already?)_

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, debating.

The split path yawned before them, shining with hot, bright air. It felt like walking into a wall of heat. Dripping, cascading heat. She wiped her forehead, feeling again the sand-like texture of the gold against her hand.

He considered, pausing, and she dripped with sweat, the halting of their motion causing her to stagnate in the warmth. Had they really just been in the snow? In the ice? It seemed impossible. He guided her to the right, another identical and blinding path.

 _(Ok, say it's Midas: I have to say I'm sorry? Or maybe that I'm wrong…? The king had to admit his mistake…)_

 _(What was I wrong about?)_

 _(Well… He's not completely evil and twisted…)_

But she'd never thought that in the first place. Dark, mysterious, and a threat to her brother, sure, but…

Not evil.

There'd always been an intriguing tug to him… Something that… Drew her in, but not… It wasn't a dark or _evil_ feeling, it was just… Hypnotic? Magnetic? She didn't know. _(That's not the point. He's not evil. You knew that already. What do you regret?)_

She'd regretted asking for Toby to be kidnapped.

 _(But if I hadn't, I might not have met_ them _-)_

 _(Right, but if I could go back, I'd wish something else. I wouldn't want to risk him again, is the point.)_

 _(Ok, so… I'm sorry I was wrong about Toby.)_

Even in her mind that sounded stupid.

 _(Try again.)_

Another dead end. They turned around slowly, greeting the hot fog of gold dust that swirled in their wake.

 _(Fuck.)_

 _(I'm sorry we keep hitting dead ends. I'm sorry I… Misjudged him? This? The experience?)_

Nothing happened. They went back, Sarah trying not to drag her feet. She suddenly hated her lace-up boots, her long pants and shirt that coated her skin, the strap of her bag swinging against her, just another layer for the hot to build under. They reached the entrance of the branch, the gold dust still floating, gently spiraling down onto their trail. He rubbed his eyes, thinking, then led them back a little winding passage, which peeled off into a series of zigzags. Sarah rubbed the top of her dusty head, which was definitely burning, along with her face and hands, her skin feeling chapped and dry against the dust. Looking up at the sky only intensified the gaze of the sun, beaming down like a laser. She went back to gazing at the metallic stiff corn, which was unmoving and unbent, whistling eerily against the dead hot breeze. Gold ground, gold dirt. Gold wheat, gold corn - wait. She turned around.

 _(Is this corn? The gold is starting to… Make it almost look like…)_

The walls around them were now completely wheat, rows of wheat swaying in the wind.

"Hey…" She panted.

"Are you done thinking?"

 _(Was that sarcasm or - no, he was serious.)_ "I - yes. Um. The plants… Maybe it's because they're gold, but I don't think…" She cleared her throat against the stifling air.

 _(I wonder how much of this stupid dust I've inhaled already_. _)_ Not that it seemed to matter, given how much water and opium she'd breathed in prior to that. If something was going to kill her, it seemed like gold inhalation would be low on the toxicology report. "I think I might have been wrong. I don't think it's corn. It doesn't look like it, and…" _(And corn is thicker than this, much thicker. I think. I mean, I've never actually… Been in a corn Labyrinth. Have I? Maybe when I was little, but… )_

He squinted. "I… Suppose it doesn't. Does that mean something?"

"It looks like wheat…" She let herself trail off into thought as he reached another spilt, going right. Wheat. Why hadn't she caught that before? She'd missed something.

 _(What was I thinking? I see one yellow path a green plant and that's Oz? I mean, to be fair, I had just had a panic attack when I'd noticed, but…)_

The sun beat down, her skin trying to sweat off the temperature and the gold. Well, maybe a panic attack was a good excuse, but she was paying dearly for it now. Wheat. Was wheat important? Was it different now that it was gold? Was this a warning somehow? What fairy tale had wheat in it? What fairy tale had _gold_ wheat in it!?

 _(This looks more like a Vegas cereal commercial than anything else!)_

He pulled her down another path, straight to -

Another dead end.

Sarah turned around, bowing her head against the hazy air. The dust was getting everywhere. It hit her ears, her hair, going up her sleeves. She was going to _become_ Midas's daughter by the end of this. She rubbed her fingers together and the gold felt both grating and oily to her touch, grinding into her skin like a rough paste -

 _(Fuck. Gross. I feel like I'm getting spray painted. Ok.)_

 _(Turn around. Think back. You're missing something_. _And goddamnit, why isn't there any water in this place!?)_

 _(Because it'd be gold, too.)_

She coughed, trying not to think about breathing down the sweltering air, which was almost choking her, like a thick heat-pulsating gas.

 _(Ok. Let's rethink this. Maybe… Maybe I missed something. Midas didn't have corn or wheat anyways. So. We went from the Wizard of Oz, to - pure gold. Gold for days._ _What else besides Midas made gold?)_

Alchemy. But that wasn't right, alchemy was about transforming things into gold through science. And unless this heat was somehow responsible, it seemed unlikely. Dead end.

He sighed, coughing a little, and she glanced at him. His skin shone oddly, there were streaks in it from his fingers, his hair now glinting with flakes, no longer flowing behind him, just hanging dully. Her own hair was plastered to her sweaty forehead. She pushed it away from her face, feeling the heat absorbed by the darkness of her curls. In fact, her whole body was radiating heat, sticky and drying. And while his arm was cool to the touch, she knew he couldn't be comfortable in this environment.

 _(I need to think faster. What about the ground? What I thought was the yellow brick road. That's where this started. But these were never bricks… The rocks and the dust…)_

She held up a limp hand, glistening with perspiration and gold. "Hey… Can we… Hang on a second…" Her struggled breathing was back, though this time it was due to heat and dust, not her panic. He halted, letting her crouch down to the ground. She extended her fingers stiffly, reaching for the shining earth and - "OW! _Shit!_ "

The gold, hot and metallic, seared her skin, the heat painfully biting into her. She was pulled up roughly, his hands hauling her backwards.

"Are you -"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, the - it's all gold, and it's _hot._ " She shook out her fingers. "I was stupid. My fault. I wasn't thinking. I'm getting -" _(impatient and frustrated.)_ "- Nevermind. Let's go. I'm fine." _(Idiot. What did I think was going to happen.)_

She really didn't need burned fingers on top of everything else, and she stuck them in her mouth, tasting the grime of the gold, feeling the stiff warm flakes between her teeth.

 _(Why didn't I eat any snow while we were in the poppies? Or the ice caves? Actually, I think the last time I had water was in the well, when I swallowed it, but -)_

They went back, slower it seemed, through the dust and the zigzags, and he hesitated, wiping his face, then slowly pulled her to the right, going down a curving path…

 _(If it's not the Wizard of Oz… If it's not Midas…)_

The gold seemed brighter the longer she stared at it, the light reflecting off the reflections. She waved her burned hand around listlessly, trying to cool it down somehow against the hot air. The dust-coated breeze was in her nose, on her lips, and she wondered how long it would be till she couldn't breath through it, or -

Or passed out from the heat. A single touch of her hand had burned her.

 _(So how long until your shoes start melting though? And what about after that?)_ She could feel her baking skin, painful against the unwavering heat. _(This whole place is a pressure cooker.)_

 _(God I'd kill for some water.)_

The hot wind felt like it was drying her out, and Sarah closed her eyes against it. It even _smelled_ dusty, the grains of gold earth in the air, the dryness, the scent of the wheat -

 _(Wait - wheat -)_

 _(No. That's not the smell of wheat. Or corn. That's the smell of -_

 _I know that smell. It's - oh, come on, it's - what is it - )_ "Do you smell that?"

"Dust?"

 _(Well, yes, but no.)_ "No - that plant - It's not corn, it's not wheat, it's… What is that?"

She sniffed then sneezed. _(Maybe it's the dust, but… No, the dust doesn't smell like anything, but when I close my eyes, and really smell… There's that scent, under the heat and the sweat and the grime._ _Sweet, but not like the poppies… Grassy… Fresh fields…. Like the fall… I've smelled this before, it's not corn, it's not wheat, but it's the same color, the same gold, it smells like -)_ Sarah smiled. Straw. _(That's the smell of straw.) "_ It's… Straw. It's straw!"

"Does… That help us?" He glared at her against the light and she turned towards him, forcing her overheated brain to think out loud.

"Straw… I thought it was corn, I thought it was wheat, now I think it's straw. Just like I thought it was Oz, and then Midas… Gold and straw… Straw turning into gold… Alchemy… Straw into -"

 _(Gold. If this is really straw, then… Then Alchemy wouldn't work, because that required chemicals and metal bases. But straw, an organic compound... Straw into gold… Using magic to turn straw into gold…)_ "Oh, my god. It's Rumpelstiltskin." She panted out, exhausted by the realization.

Nothing happened, except for the ever-shimmering heat.

"Another… King?" He glanced at her, face strained and worn.

"No. Yes. Maybe not. Nevermind." She coughed, gagging. _(That did nothing. And this is getting really bad.)_

They stumbled down a long passage, the dust churning up at their steps like sand. Her feet were getting uncomfortably hot, socks slipping with warm sweat.

 _(Goddamnit.)_

 _(No. No way. This IS the tale of Rumpelstiltskin! It has to be! I'm sick of this one!)_

She hacked again on the dust, spitting glinting saliva onto the ground, where it sizzled.

 _(This isn't wheat, it's straw. I know it.)_

 _(The green was… It was a trick. Plus we were coming from the poppies, maybe the Labyrinth was just going from an inorganic material to an organic material. Trying to trick me as it transitioned from Oz to here. That has to be it!)_

Besides, straw mazes were a thing. She'd had one at a school fair once. She hadn't gone in, for obvious reasons, and It hadn't looked like this one at all, it had been different, shaped into cubes and bales, but it still counted.

 _(Well, corn mazes are a thing too, and neither of those facts are helping you, Goldilocks.)_

The passage reached another dead end, wind swirling the flakes into a spiral. He wheeled around, sighing breathlessly. Sarah dripped with sweat, trying to think through the heat. Her head was starting to feel cloudy again.

 _(I wonder if we're getting close to the end. Not that I'd be helping by asking that, but - but knowing there was a gate to go through or a portal or damnit, just a clear_ thing _to solve besides_ heat _would focus me -)_

They went back in a slow spiral. He navigated them down a winding path, twisting and turning, with no outlets.

 _(Maybe this one will be -)_

Another dead end.

Sarah stared at the beaming straw murderously, willing it to open, to part and give them passage to some oasis, even back to the snow, or preferably the ice, anything besides gold, blinding, scorching gold. The straw remained solid, glistening, and she dripped, wiping the sweat out of her eyes, daring it to -

He pulled her back, resigned, but she paused.

"What are you…" He panted.

Glistening straw. She blinked. Glistening straw. No, maybe it was a trick of her eyes - the heat, it was making a mirage probably - she blinked again, the light giving her spots, but she was trying to see - it had almost looked like, for a brief second, that -

She licked her lips, watching as a stalk bent slightly.

 _(No. No, don't - that can't - don't do that.)_

"We need to keep -" He didn't look nervous or apprehensive, just tired, and slightly confused at her behavior. Ok, if he hadn't seen it then she didn't need to worry. Probably. Right? Right. Right. She turned around, wordlessly, walking with him, keeping her eyes forward, but against her will, the straw drew her gaze again, from the corner of her vision, and there -

Glistening. Dripping. _Bending._

It had to be a mirage. Had to be, because she didn't have the energy, and it was hot, so hot, it wasn't like they needed another challenge to getting though, that would be stupid, and -

Ahead in the path was the opening they'd come through. So they'd go through that and - _(and everything would be fine, regular, straight, not-glistening straw at non-bending angles. Just like we left it, just normal, regular heat levels, just regular melting temperature -)_

 _(No no no. Don't think that Williams, don't even think about the word melting -)_

They reached the opening, greeting a warping and twisting golden blaze. The straw _was_ melting, sliding and collapsing in on itself, bending as it warped, the ground no longer completely solid, rocks and dust blurring together and morphing horribly, sliding in on each other, pulling and twisting into a vat of melting, oozing, gold -

"Well, _shit._ " She closed her eyes. Opened them. Then blinked, hard, for good measure. Maybe that was another mirage. Maybe the Labyrinth wasn't trying to melt her. Maybe the molten floor and the deformed straw wasn't really there, maybe the heat wasn't really there, maybe -

Something made a noise by her ear - right next to it, it was small and tiny, but she still turned as it happened, a high pitched ' _gloop'_ and -

and then her shoulder was on fire.

 _(SHIT)_

Sarah suddenly didn't have the capacity to make sounds anymore, the pain fixating her brain, robbing her mouth of sound. The melting gold sunk through her shirt, dissolving part of the sleeve, searing into her, simply ate away at everything, into her skin, and she didn't have words, just a strangled keen that was escaping her lips -

He was grabbing her, hauling her away, wiping at the liquid fire with the cloak, taking away skin and cloth, he was saying something but she couldn't hear, gritting her teeth against the throbbing heat of her shoulder, which was now releasing damp warmth. She glanced at it, the wound small, only about the size of a quarter, but already seeping her shirt with blood. Through the haze of pain and heat she realized they needed to move, to get out, to do something -

"Gotta - go -" She wheezed, eyes streaming. "We gotta -"

He stared at her, his own eyes wide, wheeled around, searching - he turned to a far passage, taking a step, but hesitating.

Only parts of the floor were melted, some patches stuck out like chunks of ice in a sea, but they didn't have the time, she grabbed his wrist and pulled at him, but he shoved her behind, stepping ahead to guide her. They needed to go, go fast, faster and faster but carefully, oh so carefully, the straw bending around them, losing form, losing space -

 _(Will the Labyrinth dissolve around us? Can we get out that way?)_

 _(Even if it did, we'd be dead before then.)_ She realized. If they were inside the thing that was melting, _as_ it was melting, then their chances of escape -

Sarah clutched at her shoulder, the blood and sweat stinging and seeping through her fingers. They stepped carefully as she tried to squint down into the searing heat and blinding light of the gold, her foot slipping as the rocks melted under her -

He grabbed her, leaping into the new passage and landing with a soft squelch. She saw his face grimace as droplets of gold flew up onto him from the impact and tried to say something, to ask if he was all right, but this path was even less concrete than the outlet behind them, the solid patches father between, and even those had rivets of dripping liquid gold straw already running onto them, carving into their surfaces.

It was like watching butter, butter caving in on itself, the heat radiating from everything, blurring their vision. He glanced back at her, then shifted his wrist, gripping her hand firmly, his long fingers wrapping around hers, and they were cool against her sweaty palm. He pulled her forward, leading her on -

 _(Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Why is this happening. This wasn't the deal with Rumpelstiltskin!)_

Her brain blurred, mentally sweating along with the rest of her as she tired to think past the hot pain and the warm blood and stinging, salty, sweat which was now thickening, caking itself.

 _(No no Rumpelstiltskin didn't control heat, this wasn't his MO, he didn't have a golden inferno if you lost, he took your firstborn child -)_

 _(so why -)_

 _(But the other Labyrinths didn't follow the story completely, they followed your logic. Remember what you said to him at the beginning? Fairy tales are more like - life lessons. But… With my logic, then those lessons - changed? The poppies had snow because it never made sense to me; why someone would wake up in the cold when people fall asleep in blizzards all the time? The mushrooms were ensnaring because I never understood how a ring of mushrooms could hold a five-foot-plus human, the Snow Queen didn't deal with memories, it was about realizing the truth and reaching through to someone who was blinded by anger -)_

So what was the logic of Rumpelstiltskin? He could turn things into gold…

 _(And I never understood why he never had any true power. He could make straw into gold but he couldn't even take a baby that was rightfully his from a queen? A little fairy that could turn things into gold… Like this whole Labyrinth…)_

But how much power was that, realistically? If all you could do was turn straw into gold, then what would that give you?

 _(A lot of money, essentially. A lot of gold. A kingdom of wealth. Rumpelstiltskin's power is wealth, and a maze based off that story would be about him, not the miller's daughter. So this Labyrinth is… Straw. Gold straw, to represent Rumple. And the danger is -)_

 _(But a golden Labyrinth wouldn't be that safe, not in the heat, baking away, the gold building and building and nothing but gold and hot, burning, heat -)_

 _(Ok fine!)_ She slid again and he grabbed her, pulling her forward, hugging her shoulders and she tried not to gasp as his fingers brushed the burn. He turned back around, looking for the next patch and Sarah glanced behind them -

The walls and floor were almost completely liquid now, no longer recognizable as a Labyrinth. A stagnant river, oozing towards them slowly, trickling past, the straw in their wake sticking up in various stages of collapse.

 _(We're going to fall into it. Fall into it and burn alive, entombed like Pompeii and -)_

 _(Come on, you useless idiot. He's doing all the work. Rumpelstiltskin. You think this Labyrinth is going to let you go without solving a riddle first? That's not how a story works, Sarah, and this place is completely and entirely about that. Rumpelstiltskin, he was a fairy that granted a wish, a foolish wish and then demanded a child -)_

 _(That… That sounds very familiar.)_

"Rumpelstiltskin." Her voice was a wheeze as he leapt forward, guiding her. The heat was fuming up from below as the liquid gold trickled past, the sweat now in her eyes. The Labyrinth around them bubbled, tiny molten drops landing on her jeans and she shook out her legs wildly as it burned through the fabric, the heat not quite reaching her bare legs, but she could feel the hungry warmth searing at her denim, creating tiny holes.

 _(Fuck me. I have to do something. Besides creating this fucking monstrosity of a Labyrinth, I mean. I created it, there's gotta be an exit here too, right?)_

The path ahead was collapsing into the lake in front of them, the straw running into it, there almost was no path, just a demented seeping golden glop -

"Rumpelstiltskin… You've never heard of him?" She coughed out desperately. _(Come on, come on, brain!)_

He shook his head slowly, facing ahead, looking for the next solid patch.

"There was a girl who was trapped in a room of straw, which is what this is, basically." Sarah gestured wildly. "She was trapped and she needed to turn the straw into gold, but she couldn't."

"Why did she go in the first place if she couldn't -" He began, glancing back at her.

 _(He's - paying attention. Even during all this. Listening to my stupid ramblings even as we go down in flames. Get it together. Help him, you idiot.)_

She felt like she was inhaling pure steam, her lungs trying to filter out microscopic hot metal.

 _(Talk faster, breathe later.)_ "A fairy appeared and spun the princess's straw into gold, for her, but it was at a price. But she ran out of things to pay with so he said he'd take her child, but then she decided after that she didn't want to -"

He muttered something that sounded a lot like the words 'Cheating whore' but Sarah ignored him. They stepped onto a thin ledge, and he braced himself against another, too-tiny solid clump of gold, pivoting them along. She forged ahead. "So he said if she could guess his name, then she could keep the kid, and she guessed and guessed but nothing worked. So then she spied on him and heard him singing his name, which was -"

He muttered something dark again. A larger solid piece was ahead, already glistening and quickly melting, but he moved to it, pulling them. Her feet stuck slightly as they moved.

"The name was _Rumpelstiltskin."_ She continued desperately. "Does that… Mean anything to you? Give you any ideas!? I mean, you steal kids, you grant wishes, you -"

There was a corner ahead.

 _(One last corner, come on, be the way out, be the escape, I know the name, I know the story, I know it, please -)_

He picked her up by the waist, holding her to his side, and jumped, landing on another ledge, slipping slightly, and she fought for the grip of the ground and him, holding onto his arms, her fingers like claws. They both balanced out, and then -

A dead end. Everything ended. The patches of solid gold, the river coagulating into a pool of oily heat, bubbling. The melting straw was still a wall, like a row of thin metal candles, trickling down onto each other, falling, but still too high to go over, and beyond that more straw, a solid wall of it, sizzling…

He turned to her, not desperate, not scared, not anything that she was. He was just calm, only panting slightly. "Sadly, I've never heard of him before, and we've run out of dead ends."

Sarah looked at him, trying to understand.

They were going to die.

 _(No! Get a grip!)_

When they'd gotten to the end of the crystals, to the end of the well, there was something she'd had to do. A gate, an entrance.

 _(Of course. Because it's not just about solving a Labyrinth, it's about completing the story, the riddle or challenge or what the hell ever. So I have to solve it to get though this place. Fuck. I've been trying to solve it the whole time! I don't know it!)_ "I can't - I don't -"

The ledge sweat under them, her feet sticking slightly again, and then she slipped, just a little -

He grabbed her arm, pulling her close, pressing her to his side, wrapping the cloak around both of them as the heat popped and dripped around. "You will."

"But -" She felt the tears of frustration and heat against her eyes, the blood pounding in her head and it was too hot, too hot to breathe and even while she panicked he was -

 _(Keeping me safe. He's keeping me safe and I'm letting us die -)_

 _(He's a king, he's leading and I'm useless I don't know what I'm doing -)_

He was leaned towards her, his cool fingers turning her head, and he pulled her ear towards his lips, murmuring, a deep quiet purr that made her hair stand up on end. _(Why is that - is he -)_

"Is there anything else to the story?" He murmured into her ear.

Her heart jolted. "N-" Her tongue felt numb. "No!" Sarah thought it through again, then turned to face him, but he didn't pull back, just stared at her intently and very closely, their foreheads practically touching. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate past his gaze. "It's got to be Rumpelstiltskin, there's not any other stories with gold like this, it's gotta be him. I got the ending, I don't have a first born or anything like that, except Toby, and I only promised him to you, that's not - the point is, I know this one, it can't be any other story because no other ones make _sense_ , they don't _match._ So I got the story, and I got the name -"

His hand gripped her shoulder, just avoiding her burn, like he was trying to squeeze the answer out of her. " _Whose_ name?"

"The - Rumpelstiltskin's! If this _is_ his Labyrinth, then his name should _stop_ all of -"

"No fairy named _that_ rules here."

Sarah resisted the urge to reply 'So!?' and concentrated on his words _._

 _(No fairy named_ that _rules here… What?)_

His eyes held hers. Did he have an answer? An idea? Was he trying to tell her something? If it's not Rumpelstiltskin's Labyrinth…

 _(Well, it's not Midas.)_

 _(No, I don't think that's it either…)_

 _(If a name is how I get out of here, then to brake out of a Rumpelstiltskin's Labyrinth I need to use the name of -)_

 _'_ _No fairy named_ that -'

 _(Named… It's got to be a name, a fairy's name… But who's name, Sarah?_

 _It might be a themed Labyrinth, but Rumple doesn't rule it…)_

 _(I do. But - but I know my own name!)_

 _(But I don't rule here. I just… I just control it.)_

 _'_ _No fairy named_ that _rules here…'_

 _(He does…_ He's _the ruler…)_

"Wait - so -" _(Fuck.)_ Yes. Sarah swallowed again. Of course. It wasn't Rumpelstiltskin's name that would solve this. It was _his_. Rumple didn't rule over a kingdom, _he_ did. Rumple the fairy wasn't real, had no magic here, but there was an elf, a Goblin King, who was very real, and he was in front of her. It was _his_ kingdom, her ideas, and _his_ name. No problem. She could say his name. She wasn't afraid of it. Names had no power.

Especially not over her.

 _(Shut up.)_ She opened her mouth. Air came out.

 _(Ok, come on, Williams. It's just a name. Just a name and this is fixed.)_

 _(Right? Right, of course. Of course. So, just say it_. _)_ "… Sonofabitch." Sarah breathed. _(Ok, now, that's not it. That's just juvenile.)_

She felt her chest twinge. _(No. No, do not panic. It's just a name. I can say this.)_

Oh, this was so stupid. So typically stupid. Why was she suddenly frozen? She could say all the other names she knew. She tried again, feeling like an idiot, closing her eyes as he stared at her. "Toby. Hoggle. Ludo. Sir Didymus… Ambrosias… Goblins…. Goblin King." _(Closer. Almost there_. _)_ "Ja- Jaa- J _asshole_." Sarah breathed out shakily. _Jasshole!?_ What was wrong with her!? Why, why _why_ was she panicking about this!?

Sarah felt tears behind her eyes, hot tears against a hot storm as the heat surged against them. It was just a name, just a word really, one word, and she'd be out of this stupid, hot, dusty golden storm. Just a name, a name like any other name. A name, a name, but it was _his_ name, and if she said it would…

It would be her last resort.

She'd stood in front of her mirror, night after night, sitting, staring, waiting. Just waiting. At first she was patient. Then she made up excuses. Then she was anxious.

And then she'd been scared.

And finally, Sarah had become desperate. Truly desperate. And she'd begun to try everything, and she _knew_ that already, so why was this memory coming back to her so strongly now? Why was it here? Why was it choking her?

She'd wished and she'd planned, calling out, begging, pleading, calling Didymus, Ludo, Hoggle…

 _(But I never said his. Never. Not -)_

She tried again, and her throat closed around the word, trapping it.

 _(But this is now, this isn't in the past, we're going to die if I don't -)_

But the past held her voice.

She'd never said his name because that was the one thing she'd had left to try. If all the spells and the wishing didn't work, if she couldn't get herself across, then maybe his name would do something. If she had nothing left then she had his _name_ , and it was _his._ It hadn't been in the book, she hadn't dreamed it, it was real. But she'd never said it because she was afraid - so afraid - paralyzed to look inside of Schrödinger's box, because that was her last idea. And if she said it and he didn't come - if she'd wished for him and he hadn't appeared - so she hadn't, she hadn't even thought it, she hadn't used it because his name was a memory, a memory and a hope that she'd locked away safe and hidden. Away from everything because she didn't want to use it, to give it power that it might or might not have. Because sometimes wondering forever was better than actually hearing it fail. Because speaking his name was the last wish she had, and she didn't want it to -

If he was this world, if he represented this world, and his name wouldn't bring him to her, hers would collapse. So she never said it, even when she'd seen him, even when he'd been in danger, because he was real, he was real and he was here, and that was enough. But if he left her again; if he disappeared or she got lost and she'd wasted the only thing she had left… The only thing she could remember him by, the only power she had over him, the only thing to call him, to summon him -

 _So I used other things. Other things because that was safe, and that was what I needed._

Your highness, your majesty, Goblin King. His name was like a wish, and she didn't need to wish, because she'd done it, on her own, without his name she'd made it here, and he was beside her and -

Sarah's mouth was numb, hot and runny and she couldn't remember how to make sound. She clutched her chest, which felt flat and empty and hot, so hot -

 _(_ S _top thinking about that, it's not the past anymore, just calm down - just say his name, just ask - just ask and I will move the stars -)_

Sarah grabbed onto the hands that steadied her, that held her up, taking them off her shoulders. She latched on tight, he was asking something but she couldn't listen. She dug her fingers into his wrists as hard as she could, despite the pain in her hands.

"Jar… Jerry." She kept her eyes closed. She tried again. "Jared."

 _(He's here, he's right here and he's real, I can feel him and he is real, and so is this heat and the pain in my shoulder. This is real place I am not crazy and I am not alone and he is not leaving me because I will find him, I will hunt him and I will find him, I will hold onto him in a storm, in the ice and the dark, and I will never lose him or this place again -)_

 _(Him - he -)_

 _(His name is mine and I will not lose it - I will not lose -)_

Her shoe slid on the surface, and part of the gold finally melted away, her foot slipping out. Sarah lost her balance, bending back with it, her hands still holding onto him, the heel of her boot swinging wide, pulling her - the smell of burnt rubber now mixed in with the heat - it was all heat -

Her weak, sweating hands slipped, scrabbling at him, sliding over his skin, and she was in space, with the blazing sun and the blazing gold -

 _"_ _Jareth!"_ She screamed, falling back.

Or maybe it wasn't a scream, maybe it was a whisper as she fought past herself for the name, dragging it out by the ghost of a sound. But she'd felt it against her lips, she'd said it -

Sarah was falling, grabbing at something - she swung her leg back, stamping into the ground, hard. Trying to move forward again, to hold on - to get back onto solid -

\- and then the world broke in half.


	26. Falling

A/N: Hahahha SHE FINALLY SAID HIS NAME I CAN STOP USING MALE PRONOUNS ONLY. WAS IT DRIVING YALL CRAZY!? IT WAS DRIVING ME CRAZY! BUT THERE WAS SOME KIND OF METHOD TO MY MADNESS WAS IT A GOOD ONE WHO KNOWS BUT IT'S DONE NOW. Finally. Praise be. Jareth Jareth Jareth Jareth Jareth Akjdhfkajsfhaj even typing it is a blessing. And now for an explanation! Whee!

(((Thank you all for so many kind words! Like I said, my apologies for the radio silence these past few months but I appreciate every follow and review - I was both beaming/picking my jaw off the ground from all the encouragement. Wait no. That would make me a jawless skull. Abort that imagery. THANK YOU, IS WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY. ALL OF YOU. Also 50 followers! When I wrote that last time it was exactly at 50 and I was sure it was gonna plummet back to 48 or something but I was wrong! So thank you again! I don't know when the next update will be, but it sure as heck won't be in 2+ months, don't worry. ONWARDS.)))

((((also disclaimer: I could see this and the next chapter being called a fillers. I could. But I like them. And we're getting there, I promise! Plus Sarah needs a little alone time to process. Humor me.))))

 **FALLING**

Sarah fell. Everything was hot, everything was caving, and she was trapped in it -

She landed, hard, eyes screwed shut as she waited for the heat, for the gold that would surely encase and burn her, because she'd waited too long, had frozen in the moment where she should have spoken -

Her hands hurt.

That wasn't accurate. Her hands were throbbing, not burning but cramping, painfully bent around something that she was clenching with every bit of strength she had left…

She wanted to let go, but there a dull stubbornness holding her in place.

 _(Why? It hurts - I need to -)_

The feeling was unforgiving, her fingers locked.

 _(I have to hang on - have to because - I'm holding onto something important - something imperative -)_

She opened her watering eyes, looking for whatever object she was grasping -

Wrists, actually.

 _(Oh.)_

She still couldn't let go. The hands twitched and her fingers tightened even more, pain shooting up her arms.

There was a groan, directly under her ear, and she sat up to see, still clutching. She looked down onto the very gold face of -

him.

Jareth.

Sarah blinked, trying to understand. She was looking at him from above, on top of him, holding _his_ wrists, but how had they - the last time she'd seen him -

 _Gold. Hot. Melting Labyrinth, Rumpelstiltskin -_

She'd frozen, his name trapped in her, and she'd said it, falling -

Falling. They'd fallen, she'd landed on him or he'd protected her with his fall -

 _(Where are we. Gold. Hot. What happened. How.)_

Shock and confusion swirled in her head as she peered around. They were in dirt, a great cavernous crack of it, sun pouring in from the top. The gold was running around them, onto rocks, real rocks, real dirt, dark and brown and musty. Gold trickled into the pockets and hills of the split earth, dripping like thick water. There was bright green tufts around them, and it looked like - the earth had cracked beneath them, like they'd fallen into a chasm of dirt, but she could see the sun above them and the gold wasn't flowing too close - so that meant - they were safe. For a second, at least, they were safe.

 _(Not safe - never safe - always a threat, always something - be ready - come on -)_

Sarah couldn't quite think right yet, her head still ringing, lungs trying to adjust to the cooler air, but she didn't know where they were, what the danger was, or what was going to happen. She hunched over him, trying to ready herself, glaring into the darkness. He was clearly somewhat immobile, considering it looked like she'd used him as a landing mat somehow. She felt bruised and battered, in no condition to fight anything, especially not another melting maze or more caving ground, but she had to be ready, had to protect because she was the one who was awake, and he was -

blinking.

She caught his eyes and froze as he looked up at her.

"Sarah." He breathed, her name forming through his smirk, his smile, his twisted and wonderfully real and alive grin.

"Uh." She whispered back, staring. And somehow completely unable to move.

 _(It's ok. It's ok, he's here. He's here, he's real, he didn't leave. I found him and I said his name and he's real and alive and he's still here.)_

Still she gripped.

"Sarah Williams." He sat up slowly onto his elbows, dragging her arms back with him, and she tilted forward, watching her hands, knuckles white with the effort of holding on. She was losing feeling in her fingers, her arms were shaking, but she couldn't -

 _(not yet - I know he's real I know he's here but what if - what if I let go and -)_

He followed her gaze. "As much as this particular position is appreciated, I will need my hands back eventually. But by all means, take as much time as you need." He said it quietly, the grin still playing around on his lips.

Sarah looked up at him, trying to hear his words. He was smiling, like he was joking with her, but his words sounded funny, catching up to her ears slowly -

What had he said? Particular position?

She was holding onto his wrists with her hands, she'd fallen on top of him, and now she was still slightly hunched over him, sitting on him. On top of him. On him. _(So…)_

Her brain clicked, and Sarah rolled off, but couldn't release - her stiff hands pulled him with her and now she was sitting next to him, still trying to let go but still holding on as his hands flopped in her grip.

"A pity." He sighed. "I was rather enjoying that."

"S… Sorry." Sarah murmured, unhearing. Her hands felt numb, and her brain felt… Empty. She swallowed, glaring at her white fingers, willing herself to let go as her arms started to size.

He rotated his wrists, looking bemused as he flexed them in her grasp.

 _(He's here. He's not disappearing. It's just a name.)_

 _But…_ Said the quiet feeling.

 _You let go, you slipped and you almost fell, your weak hands let go and you -_

Her fingers locked up at the thought and tensed another fraction around him, cramping painfully.

"Sorry." She repeated again, "I can't - I -"

 _(I can't let go.)_

He watched her, then slowly moved their conjoined arms towards her, long fingers extending up to meet her chin. He curled his hands around and tilted her up towards him, his cool touch wrapping around her face.

"Sarah." He said quietly.

Her eyes were wide and unblinking as his gaze held hers, the way it always did, and she couldn't look away, the dark drawing her in, holding her, the light freezing her pounding heart, jolting it to a stop. Her breath froze in her chest, then escaped her all at once. Her fingers at last released with her air and she let go.

"No -!" Her scream was a crack, hands already scrabbling for their grip again. She so sure he was going to disappear, that he would fade into the darkness of his own eyes if she let him go, she'd said his name, now there was nothing to keep him h-

His fingers instantly left her face and his hands found hers, snatching them up. A cool rough grip wrapped reassuringly around her desperate clawing -

"I am here, Sarah." He held her hands in a firm captive vice, watching her face. Her heartbeat was back to a rush, and she was trying to think over it, but it was very hard.

 _(You're being an idiot -)_

 _(don't let go don't leave please don't leave me alone don't go please be real -)_

 _(Stop it you're being stupid -)_

 _(please be real please don't go please I wish I wish I wish -)_

She realized she was making a noise - some kind of high strain, and she shook her head, trying to clear it, to come back. He was right there, in front of her, practically _holding_ her, but she couldn't - some part of her could seem to remember that.

His voice was low and calming, and she tried to hear it through herself.

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah…It's been a while since I said your name… Sarah. Sarah…" He sighed it, dragging it out. "I wonder why didn't you say mine?"

"No." She blurted out. He raised his eyebrow, a question to her, one that… She couldn't bring herself to answer. Not yet. "You never - you never -" She took a breath. "You never - said mine, either." She couldn't think, just echoed his words back to him.

"I could not speak your name, Sarah."

"Why."

He looked at her mildly. "Names have power. Surely you must have read something about them in your many stories."

She nodded. She had. Not that she could remember any of them right now, but -

 _(I need to calm down.)_

Her heart surged inside, panic still ringing through her veins.

 _(It's ok he's not leaving it's ok - please calm down -)_

Sarah looked down at his hands, trying to cement their realness in her mind.

 _(I let go I said his name we almost died I did everything wrong I said his name I let go -)_

His thumb moved, brushing across her hands, gentle.

 _(Gentle. He's being gentle. He's trying to - calm me down.)_

 _(His hand feels… When we danced, it was the same. He took my hand… It was the same, his hand was big, enveloping mine, trying to keep me calm, guiding me on the dance floor. Leading me… Come on, let him lead… Let him help you…)_

She looked up at him, searching his face. "Stay -"

It wasn't supposed to be a question or a plea, but she was so tired, so scared, her chest working against her and she knew he was real but every nerve screamed at her to remember -

"Always." He titled his head, frowning slightly at her. "Did you think I was leaving?"

"I…" She gulped for air. _(His hands. His hands are real. Feel them.)_ "Yes."

His frown deepened. "Why?"

"I… Couldn't say your name. Because I was scared you would…"

"Leave you?"

"No…" She shook her head.

 _(He's gonna think it's stupid. I told you to calm down. Change the subject. Don't talk about it.)_ She forced a shuddering breath, switching. "You… Couldn't say mine either, right?"

" _You_ were the one who came here, Sarah. _You_ won the Labyrinth. You are the ruler, to an extent. And names here are… Powerful. You have -"

"Power." Another breath. Thoughts were starting to become clearer, actual words instead of bright flashes of panic. "But… Hoggle and Ludo said my name -"

"Perhaps… You said theirs first?"

 _(But…)_ She thought back tiredly. _(Ludo. Hoggle. Didymus. I… Did I? … Yes. I must've. I screamed them out, trying to talk to them, when they didn't believe me -)_ "But… Why. I still don't und-"

"It's about power. You held the power. You won the Labyrinth. A king or queen's name has a weight. None may speak without permission."

 _(Names. True names, Sarah. True names hold power over people. Power -)_

 _(You have no power over me.)_

A chill trilled through her spine suddenly.

 _(A true name… A true name gives you power over someone. So maybe the real reason he never said my name first is because…)_ "You couldn't say it, could you. You… Couldn't say my name."

"I told you so myself not a moment ago, Sarah." He smiled at her, but there was a sadness that curved into it.

 _(You have no power over me. It was my power to break. To give back. But - wait - does that mean -)_ "So… We both have… Each other's name. Now." _(We… Both hold power. Don't we. Over - this. Place. Each other. Something.)_

"Think of it as an… Agreement. Mutual respect. Co-rulers of the same kingdom, of the same power. Shared."

Mutual respect. The words sunk into her dumbfounded skin. _(Respect._ From _him. And for him.)_

 _(For him!? Since when do we respect -)_

 _(Oh shut up. I just had a panic attack over the thought of losing him and letting him die. He can have a little respect from me.)_ "Yes." She looked at him.

"Y-" He titled his head. "Yes?"

"Yes. Mutual - respect." Her voice shook slightly on the word, but it held. _(I trust him. I - respect him. Ok.)_

"You're -"

She frowned, her brain going from a dull clunk of thoughts to a clinking, beginning to pick up speed. "But how come - if I won the Labyrinth, how come _your_ name worked to get us out of… There?"

"My name still has… I still have some power over this place." He winked at her.

Sarah blinked. Winking? _Winking_? Who was this and what had he done with the great and fearsome Goblin Kin-

With… Jareth?

 _(Winking. Please. Respect is gonna start draining pretty quick.)_

"But you never answered my question, Sarah." His grip tightened slightly on her hands.

 _(Hands. That's right. He still wants an answer to your crazy. Why didn't you say his name and why did we almost burn to death? Well that's easy. It's because I'm an idiot.)_ "I… I didn't say your name because…" _(Because I was afraid. I remembered the past and I remembered that fear that I would fail. That your name was the only thing that would work and if it didn't, you would never appear.)_

She swallowed, feeling stupid. It _was_ stupid, especially when she considered saying it out loud. And especially when she thought about saying it to _him._ "When I was…" She sighed, forcing the words out. "Alone… I didn't know what to do. No one could - hear me. Nothing appeared. Not even you. Even when I… Wished. So - I did a bunch of stuff, but I didn't ever - I thought - this is stupid. It doesn't matter." She laughed, shaking her head and trying to pull away.

He gripped, pulling her closer instead, her breath catching in her chest as she was tugged forward suddenly. "I'm waiting." He watched, expectant, eyes testing her.

She tried to recover, leaning back, but he gently twitched her forward another inch, grinning. Sarah took a deep breath and glowered. "Fine. Names have power, right? True names. They have true power… Over people. Say Bloody Mary three times and - nevermind, you won't get that. But you can… Control things. Summon things. With names."

"Sometimes." He regarded her.

"So…" She swallowed, hesitating again and was reeled another inch closer. "Ok! So I was afraid you wouldn't appear if I said your name! Back - back then! I didn't - there was no one there! Maybe no one even was coming and I - I thought I'd be stuck! Forever! But I wasn't sure, and… I thought - I thought maybe I could use it - your - your name - to summon you somehow. I don't know! I don't know. It was - it's really stupid, ok? But - I thought maybe it might - be the last thing that would work. If my spell didn't, if I couldn't make it through then… I still had one more thing, kind of. I had your name. I mean, it was as good of an idea as all my other ones, right? But… I didn't want to waste the last chance I had, so I didn't - I never said it. At all. And I stopped… Thinking about it. And I'm still… Having trouble saying it because if you leave now… And I can't get you back… If I let you go - if true names do have true power, if I _can_ summon you with it and bring you back - what if I wasted it? What if I said it while you're right here, right next to me, and now I said it and it's - I should've - shouldn't have -"

He stared at her, face unmoving and Sarah was frozen, waiting. Was he going to scoff at her? Get angry that that was the reason she'd hesitated and they'd almost been deep fried? _Or pull me closer?_ She suddenly was having trouble thinking at all.

And then he tilted his head back, laughing, a deep chuckle that started in the depth of his throat and rose up and out.

 _(Well, that was the worst option, and I hadn't even considered it.)_

Sarah ripped her hands away, covering her face with embarrassment, blushing furiously under gold dust and sweat, trying to move away from the howling maniac. It was stupid. She knew it had been.

He pulled her hands back, trying to see her, still laughing.

 _(I'm an idiot. At least let me hide my shame.)_

But he caught her chin and tilted her up to look into his grinning _stupid, stupid_ face -

"Leggo! I said it was dum-"

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah Williams. My dear girl." He said, the smile exposing his fangs. "How interestingly your mind works. Fascinating. And yet, here I am, by your side, through it all, though you never said my name. You saved it with your dying breath, eh? You treasured it as a spell above all else, protected it until the end?"

"Sh- no. I just - whatever! I told you it was stupid." She tried to yank away, but her fingers were too weak from all the gripping they'd done, so she just scrabbled at his arms fruitlessly. "I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to magic, I just read! I know it was - "

"You just poured over texts as I did, night and day, to see what could repair the bond." He grabbed her battered hands, his face that of a triumphant loon, not a magical king. "You spent hours trying to learn about magic and fairy tales to return to one, is that it?"

She glared at him. "Yeah. You already knew that. So what."

"We are so alike, and so different you and I, Sarah. You… And I." He watched her, his grin fading into a true smile and her breath went short again. "You saved my name and locked it away to keep it safe, while I whispered yours over and over in an attempt to bring you back."

 _(Over and over - to bring me back? Why? To bring_ me _back?)_

 _(Yes. To fix it cause I broke it. I knew that already. But… The way he said it… It almost sounded…)_ "You… Said you couldn't say my name."

"Not _to_ you, not when you wouldn't accept it. But perhaps from where you couldn't hear it, from far away, through magic, I thought… Perhaps I could write it, to cast a spell, perhaps if you were so desperate to get back that you would give me just an inch -" He stopped, his face sobering slightly. "Perhaps if I hadn't… Lost. But I wore it on my lips every -"

 _(Ok, that's a bit far. Over and over to get to me? Wore it on your lips?)_

Sarah tried a casual laugh, but it her dry throat turned it into a cough. "You… You were just trying to get power back to the Labyrinth. It wasn't - you weren't trying to get _me_ , you were trying to restore balance, so don't make it sound like -"

He considered her. "Perhaps a bit of both in doing so."

 _(What?)_ She blinked. Another riddle. "Ok, well, I don't know what that means… But we -… "

He gazed at her, eyes pulling at her, darkness and light, stars and moon, like they were trying to show her the world and all the answers… Sarah tilted her head slowly, drifting, trying to see - his eyes - no, trying to see him. Whatever he was, a villain, a mystery, a -

 _What no one knew -_

 _Always -_

She blinked. She was only a few inches from him. He was next to her, practically holding her, and she wasn't - leaning away or moving back - they were alone in the dark - and - and they -

 _And they needed to fix the Labyrinth!_ She shook her head, trying to clear whatever that had been.

 _(The hell was I doing!? Get it together. Mutual respect doesn't mean hanging on his every word.)_ "W-we should - should go."

"What?"

"I said we should go." She tried to stand, but he pulled her back, his hands warm around hers as the grin returned full-force.

"To _whom_ are you referring?"

 _(He's got super hearing, how is he not getting this -)_

 _(No, he gets it, he sounds like me with Toby. 'What's the magic word?')_

 _(Really? He needs it that bad- fine.)_ She sighed. "I said, we should GO, JARETH."

"Ah." He exhaled. "Right you are… Sarah."

There was something about the way he sighed her name… Holding the S and then letting the rest escape him… Like he was trying to hold it in, keep it, to savor -

 _(I'm overthinking again.)_

Sarah stood up, finally pulling her hands free, blushing and brushing herself off as best she could. She opened her mouth, turning back to say something, then grinned. He caught her gaze quizzically.

"Sorry, it's just… Your hair is still - well, now its silver _and_ gold."

He ran his fingers through it, then shook his head violently, sending out clouds of gold dust. She smirked, reminded of a bird ruffling its feathers.

"It's not coming out…" Sarah laughed. "It - it looks fine though. You make it work."

"Work…"

"It means… You can make it look good. Silver and gold. Only you." She shook out her own hair, which felt crispy and stringy, trying to run her fingers through it as he had, but they only got tangled. "Ah. Well." She gave up.

"Hold still." He stood, reaching for her.

"Don't try, you'll just get caught. It's the curse of having curl- oh." He was surprisingly gentle, running his fingers through the ends, then twisting it around at roots, fingers digging into her scalp, combing through curls and then gently shaking them out.

"That's a bit closer to your true color, at least." He stood back, a hand still on her head, hesitating, then brushed his hands.

"Th- ok. Thank you. That was… Oddly fast." _(For someone who already has perfect hair. And probably doesn't need a brush.)_ She ran her fingers through. It was… Smoother. She glanced at her hair, impressed.

"I used to ride horses. Their manes and tangles were comparable with -"

"Ok, I said thanks. Don't compare me to horses. I'm good."

"I meant… Your natural hair looks… Better - not gold."

 _(Was that… Did he…)_

 _(He likes my hair?)_

 _(Is that what he's trying to…)_ Sarah looked at him, but he only held out his arm. Impossible to tell. _(Plus, he used to have a mullet, so there's no knowing what his taste in hair means.)_

"Ready?"

"Uh… Yep."

No big. No big at all. _(The King of Goblins just combed my hair -)_

 _(… Jareth just combed my hair. And now we're walking along, Jareth and I -)_

 _(Jareth and I -)_

 _(Jareth and Sarah…)_

The thought was oddly… What. What was the word she was looking for. Nostalgic? No, that couldn't be it. But she was… Relaxed. She'd calmed down.

 _(Calmed down? Relax? These words around_ him _?)_

 _(Maybe I've just gotten used to walking with him at this point.)_

 _(Arm in arm.)_

 _(Whatever.)_

 _(What a curiously strange elf he is…)_

They paused only to look at her bloody shoulder. He frowned, but there wasn't much they could do, given that the wound had basically scabbed over with gold and blood, and it wasn't like they had anything to clean it. It still hurt, but she convinced him to at least wait until they reached some water.

The dirt chasm was deep, but it wove upward in a broken path, the moist earth somewhat tricky to navigate for Sarah as she sunk into it, but they climbed to the top, and it opened to a dirt path, no longer in gold. They were now surrounded by rolling hummocks, a lumpy grass wall that went uphill, taking them to the top of a little knoll -

Sarah looked out at the land. It was all grass, green - it wasn't just green though, it was blue and yellow, shifting bright colors of emeralds that wove together in a sea of grass. Gold and teal undertones melted through them, shifting in the wind like a rippling lake. There were some flowers, too, odd shapes and shades as she passed _(And a few toadstools)_. She glared at them, stiffening, but didn't notice any growth from the fungus or overpowering sweet scents from the flowers. Besides, the colors were wrong. Where the poppies had been red and the mushrooms were a sickly pale, these were rainbow earth tones mixed with pastels, wildflowers and mushrooms complimenting each other as if in an arrangement. Not that that didn't mean they weren't dangerous, but… At least they looked more… Natural. Ish.

And at least the sun wasn't _as_ hot. It was still quite warm, but perfect clouds now drifted across the sky cheerfully puffy and white, completely picturesque. At the bottom of the hill the grass rose high, creating an anchored sea of waves as it rippled in a tunnel before them.

 _(A grass maze? What's that from? Is that a thing? Flowers? Dirt path? What are the clues? Think. Think.)_ Sarah's mind leaped from fairy tale to fairy tale. _(Grass. Grass Labyrinth.)_ Nothing popped out. _(Ok, next. Bright flowers and fungus IN grass.)_ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

 _(Oh yeah, I'll just take a giant bite of some of the local nature to prove that theory. Smart move. Real good plan.)_ "What do you think?" She asked, glancing at him.

"I haven't the slightest idea, Sarah. You seem to be more informative than I on the subject."

"You pretty much solved the last one." She observed sheepishly.

"After you'd explained it to me, yes." He preened slightly at himself. "But we _both_ survived."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just cooked slightly to more than well-done."

"Your methods do seem to bring us close encounters with death, but they work."

"Wow, high praise."

They reached the entrance of the grass, and Sarah stared, mesmerized, as it swayed back and forth hypnotically like curtains.

"It was meant as such, Sarah." He continued.

"Well… Thanks." She sighed, but he was right. So far they'd survived. Just barely, but they'd survived. _(Not sure how much more I've got left, but we're here.)_

They'd made it through water, earth, poisonous air, and fire, if you counted volcanic gold. She hoped this Labyrinth wouldn't include something beyond. The shifting greens were mesmerizing, but it was also reminded her of something - African grass, maybe, or a jungle - something a lion or another kind of creature would have no problem hiding and stalking them through… She narrowed her eyes. "I have no ideas so far, though the flowers and toadstools are giving me some pretty vivid flashbacks."

Jareth chuckled, securing her arm tighter. "I'm sure you can just… Burn them with iron or force yourself to not breathe, or say my n-"

"Yeah yeah, very funny. I can't regenerate like you, King Keebler."

He looked down at her, smile widening. "I do have a name, you know."

"I - yes - Jareth, I'm well aware of your name." She shook her head.

"I do so enjoy the way it you make it sound. It becomes so _alive_ when you say it."

"Why would - that - ok." Sarah ran out of words abruptly. _(What is that supposed to mean?_ _I'm about to go back to calling him Owlbrain if he keeps - making a big deal out of it. This. I knew I shouldn't have told him about the name thing -)_

"You sound so frustrated when you speak it. Reminds me of when…" He trailed off, the wind in the grass swishing through the rest of his sentence.

"When what?" Curiosity brought back her words. She cocked her head up at him, searching.

"When you first appeared. So much anger, so much determination, that spark of… Difference. Defiance."

"Difference, eh?" She scoffed. "Lucky and stubborn."

They turned right, the flowers dotting up on the path. Up close they were even weirder looking, their shapes not quite flower-like, the petals too perfect or - was that one square? Sarah didn't trust them an inch. Or the toadstools, or the - his voice pulled her back.

"No, you… Were intriguing. Not… An ordinary girl."

"I captured your attention with my temper tantrums, eh?" She twitched him a smile.

"Yes, you… Captured my interest, in a manner of speaking." He paused, searching. "You were… Singular. Special, perhaps, is a more accurate word."

Intriguing _?_ Singular? Special? What were these words? Did he know what they meant? Did he know how he was applying them to - her?

 _(Why would I be at all special? All I did is rescue my baby brother, with a ton of help, and then win by accident, destroying his kingdom in the process, so… Is he trying to… Give me kudos? Or just mess with me? How do I respond to that?)_ She laughed, speaking quickly, trying to move past it. "I bet you say that to all the ladies-slash-wishers-slash-Labyrinth-runners."

She wasn't _uncomfortable,_ she was just… Suddenly very aware that he wasn't -

 _(He's being nice. Well, not nice, but nicer. I could talk to him when we were arguing, when he was insulting me, but this? How do I talk to him like this? How do I - he's praising me - without even calling me a human - what do I do with that.)_

"There are no others to refer to."

 _(What?)_

No, that wasn't - she wasn't trying to ask that, she didn't want to - she didn't care about -

 _(Why was he making this… He didn't understand.)_ She laughed again, even faster, a nervous bubbling. "N- no, it's a joke. Like, you compliment all the ladies and tell them they're special. It's a dumb saying, neverm-"

"It was meant for you and you alone, Sarah."

"Oh. Ok. Um… Yes. I knew that. No! I mean, thank you." _(I think. What? What am I doing? Just - he's trying to make normal conversation, ok? Not where you're fighting and yelling and insulting each other!)_

 _(But I don't know how to do that! Not with - with him!)_

 _(Just… Ok, fine. You don't know how to do that. So… Learn. Try at least.)_ She swallowed. "I - I'm sorry, I'm not good at -"

"Seeing what makes you so marvelously unique?" His voice whispered into a laugh, one she could hear very distinctly despite the wind sweeping through the grass.

"Yep. Yep. That. Right there." She could feel her blush creeping up, and put her free hand on the back of her neck to try to stop it, massaging furiously. They turned left, and the path warped into a series of rounded lumpy corners.

 _(Special. Special. What does that even mean. I was a bratty 16-year-old. Sure, I beat his Labyrinth, and yeah, I made it back, but… Whatever. I'm never gonna find an answer in this. It's…)_

 _(He thinks I'm… Worth something.)_

 _(So I guess… I kinda proved myself on this whole expedition?)_

 _(Wait, but… He said… Were._ Were _intriguing._ Were _singular. Like, I've always been - special. Like he's always thought that.)_

 _(Well, I'm not a mind reader. I don't know what he means. I don't… Whatever. Whatever.)_

 _(Special.)_

Sarah smiled, just a little, to herself. In spite of herself. They circled a large grass patch, then went left.

 _(The King of Goblins thinks I'm… Special.)_

 _(Jareth thinks I'm -)_

But somehow his name made it sound odd. Jareth thought she was -

 _(He's not "Jareth", he's not your pal, your old buddy. He's - he's a king.)_

 _'_ Jareth' somehow made it sound… Personal. 'Jareth' had a weird familiarity to it, one that she didn't know how to wrap her brain around, much like the conversation she'd been floundering in…

The King of Goblins. Special.

 _(Alright, calm down. He also called you a human, and foolish, and said you had horse hair, and -)_

 _and…_

 _('It was meant for you and you alone, Sarah. There are no other others.)_

She squirmed, remembering his tone, the quiet way he'd delivered the words, like he was trying to tell her something in confidence. Something important.

 _(Important!? Please. Why would he say that? I don't care.)_

 _(HE said it because_ you _brought it up. YOU.)_

 _(Right, but - but I didn't care, I was just…)_

The path twisted to the right, in little spirals, warping around itself, grass rippling alongside. Sarah stamped on several flowers that were unlucky enough to have grown into the path as she walked, chewing her lip.

 _(I don't care! I was just - just trying to think of something to say! That's it.)_

 _(What if he'd said 'Ah yes, the hordes of equally beautiful women I court, I say that to all of them? I tell them they're all… Singular.)_

Stomp. _(I don't care!)_

 _(Not even a little?)_

 _(No. No way. He wants to - to court or date or dance or whatever with someone as gorgeous as him, then fine. Fine. He should.)_

Stomp. _(… But then again, he did say there were no other women.)_

 _(Well, if there HAD been, I wouldn't -)_

 _(I said, I do. Not._ Care! _)_

A picture flashed in Sarah's mind of Jareth, holding an equally beautiful, tall and blonde woman in white poofy dress, they were laughing and waltzing and _not running away and smashing things with chairs -_

Something twitched inside of her, a feeling that was dark and cracking, like an angry murderous whip, and she bit her cheek, hard. "OW!"

"What happened? What's happening?" He stopped, grabbing at her when he saw her clutching her cheek.

"Fuck - ow - no -" She waved away his expression. "It's nothing - not the Labyrinth. I just - bit myself."

"How did you manage that?"

"I don't care." Sarah muttered sulkily. Now her mouth tasted like gold dust and iron. Slimy, warm, salty iron. And bitterness. "I mean - I don't - know. Let me grab my bag."

She needed to get the feeling out of her suddenly dry mouth. She hadn't been smart enough to bring water, but surely she had a mint or something she could eat, drink, anything to get this taste away. She rummaged in her bag, reached into a side pocket, searching - she might have something - there. An ancient powerbar, stowed away for emergencies from when she used to have an appetite. She tore off the wrapper of it - some kind of neon "enerGpak" boasting of birthday cake flavor - and forced herself to eat at least a bite. _Ugh._ It tasted like stevia and cardboard, but it was better than salty gold. One bite was all she needed. She chewed it savagely, even as it stuck to her teeth.

 _(I don't care and that's final!)_

 _(You just bit your mouth so hard you drew blood. And that was at the THOUGHT of him_ dancing _with another woman.)_

 _(So what!? So what. So. What. He can do whatever he wants to. We had one dance. Which was a dream. So. It didn't even really happen, when you think about it.)_

Chewing through the pain of her cheek, chewing through the weird, idiotic thoughts.

 _(We had a lot more.)_

 _(What!? That's not - no, that's -)_

 _(That's not untrue, and you know it.)_

Chewing through -

 _(Now is not the time. Not the time at all!)_

"Sarah, you -"

"I'm FINE." She glared up at the large clouds, chomping, avoiding him and his stupid piercing gaze that could probably tell she was lying. "Sorry. Just - give me a minute. The stupid bar is helping."

It wasn't. Her heart was beating rather quickly as well. She shut her eyes.

 _(Get it together, Williams. He's a selfish, stupid -)_

 _(He's smart and kind-ish and saved your life many times at this point -)_

 _(He kidnapped my brother and he's a pervert and he -)_

 _(Did whatever I wanted, whatever I asked - became the villain, became the dashing dancing king -)_

 _(Dancing with who knows else -)_

 _(He said there were no others -)_

 _I move the stars for no one -_

 _(THAT DOESN'T MATTER TRALALALALALALLALALA)_

 _(Come on! He's not… I'm not… He can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants. Like me. We're adults. Two, individual adults.)_

Even inside her head the thought sounded weird.

 _(Well - I meant - The point is - I'm not jealous or angry or mad or anything. I'm just overthinking it. Overthinking him. He can dance, he can say nice things, he can do it all, it's none of my business. And this is why I can't take any compliments.)_

She opened her eyes with a deep and frustrated breath, clearing away the moronic thoughts with a shake of her head and -

and -

And she was alone.

"What -" She turned her head. "What -"

No Jareth. No Labyrinth. No…

No Labyrinth?

 _No Labyrinth._

Just a blue sky, with large puffy clouds, and grass, a field, stretching as far as she could see…

"Holy shit." Sarah whispered. "What in the fuck…"


	27. Bite Me

A/N: Did I just slither into the open to post a part 2 to a cliffhanger only to retreat back into the Fog of Mystery never to know when I return? Yes. I hope it will be soon! My apologies if it is not! Thank you to anyone who's stuck around... Deeply appreciative that you take any time to skim/read/observe my words on your screens. Bless you. And to the new followers, welcome! I'm not good at posting regularly, but that's part of the writing processes! Unless you're Stephen King but he's uh... On another level. That doesn't count. Possibly the unstoppable force to George RR Martin's immovable object? No brain, focus, not the time. Did anyone else see that the Henson Company posted something about Labyrinth recently? It was just the title of the movie but it has my apprehensions and interests raised. Ok, tangents over. THANK YOU.

Part 2 of this part. I just HAD to include this uh... Theme? In the story. I dunno what to call it without giving it away. 

Also full disclosure, this part gets a little gross (Wait you mean the dislocated elbows, moldy mushrooms and overall blood WASN'T considered part of that? No, yes, I do consider that stuff under the gross category but uh... I dunno I like giving people a warning sometimes. Point is, it's announced in the text what's about to happen before it does, so if it grosses you out, just scroll past it. When Sarah starts talking again with """quotations""", it's over. To me it's not really that gross but I also don't know what kind of thresholds people have and my friend thought it was, so here we are. This has been your warning.)

We are getting closer and closer to the end! Not super close, but it's def time for the last act. Few more challenges. Will have this done by halloween, for sure.

No Jareth. No Labyrinth. No…

No Labyrinth?

 _No Labyrinth._

Just a blue sky, with large puffy clouds, and grass, a field, stretching as far as she could see…

"Holy shit." Sarah whispered. "What in the fuck…"

 **Bite Me**

 _(Calm down. Just calm down. Look around. Where are you.)_

"Jareth?" She called out uncertainly. Silence met her. Sarah felt a hot, burning panic starting in the back of her mind, going through her, and she couldn't move.

She suddenly felt too big for her skin, her lungs once again tightening -

 _NO! Don't you dare! I have to find him, not lose it! It's the Labyrinth. It's the Labyrinth. That's all it is._

She forced herself to breathe through her mouth, but she felt hot again, her blood rushing through her ears with the adrenaline, so warm -

No, she actually felt a _lot_ warmer. It was as if the heat had increased, almost like being back in the straw - with the beaming sun and the -

Sarah shielded her eyes and looked up. "… The fuck?"

The sun was bigger. It looked like a ping-pong ball. Was it coming towards her? Was it growing? She gulped. She didn't know how to defeat a large impending star that would burn her. The sun was in a lot of legends, but you didn't _fight_ it. You lost, like Icarus. She squinted up, uncomfortably reminded of the gold from earlier, her skin and burn tingling under the new spotlight.

 _(Come on, more heat!? And where -)_

She tried to organize, glancing down once again at the grass - her legs were surrounded in a weird mist. _(What the fuck is this? What's going on? Where is he? Where am I? Is he invisible?)_

"Jareth?" She tried again. "If - if you can hear me - don't use any magic! I'll figure this out! Stay where you are!"

 _(What do I do? How the fuck do I figure this out? Should I move from this spot? Can I? Did I step through a portal or something? A misty portal? Did he?)_

 _(No, it must have been me -_ I'm _the one with the giant sun and no Labyrinth. He's probably still where he was.)_

 _(Fuck me.)_

Some of the fog drifted in front of her face. She swatted impatiently, dissolving it. _(Ok, not panicking, not panicking. Going to find him. No, that's not right, because that implies I lost him, and I didn't get lost or lose him or anything like that, he didn't leave me and I didn't move, so there's got to be an answer. A clue. What story or legend or bullshit is this. Grass. Labyrinth. Fog. Giant sun.)_

 _(Maybe it was the mushrooms and the flowers…)_ Sarah looked down, suspicion already growing in her mind. _(I knew I didn't fucking trust them -)_

She squatted, fanning away the thick mist, trying to see the ground. The grass Labyrinth itself must have had something to do with her abrupt transportation, so maybe if she could see the ground, if it was a clue of some kind, maybe it had been a magical portal grass or something -

Sarah stared, her fingers hovering an inch from the earth. She paused, trying to process what her brain was seeing, then the shock caught up and she gasped. Her leg muscles went limp, arms swinging wildly as she tried to balance her hunched body. She stood, yelping in horror, desperately trying not to fall over as vertigo hit and she reeled.

She was standing on grass, the same kind of oddly-colored grass she'd been in minutes ago. The exact same. The only difference is that this one was a lot smaller, made up of extremely fine blades. It looked like a dollhouse lawn, a mass of miniature grass blades that wove together to create a pattern. A very confusing and complex pattern. One that resembled a Labyrinth.

A very tiny, very microscopic grass Labyrinth.

Or what had been the Labyrinth.

"Oh - oh my god!" Sarah stared in horror. If… The grass was the Labyrinth… And the sun…

The sun wasn't getting coming closer. That wasn't fog. _She_ was getting _bigger._ Sarah tried to breathe calm breaths and not suck in mist - no, it was cloud. A cloud. In the sky. The tingling in her body became pins and needles and she tried not to scream. Or move.

 _(Oh Jesus christ, do not move.)_

 _(What the absolute fuck. How. When. When did this happen.)_

All she'd done was walk in the Labyrinth with him. She hadn't even - she'd barely gotten in 30 feet - it wasn't the Labyrinth attacking them this time, it was _her._ She was a _giant._

"What the fuck. What the fuck."

 _(Oh god. I'm huge. What do I do. What do I do.)_

 _(How the fuck did I not notice this!? And how the flying fuck am I going to fix this!?)_

More mist drifted past her -

 _(That's not mist that is a goddamn fucking cloud!)_

Her breath quickened, hyperventilating, and she inhaled part of it accidentally, hacking for several minutes. The view was making her dizzy. Everything was making her dizzy. She closed her eyes, trying not to think.

 _(Ok ok ok calm down, calm down, it's ok.)_

 _(It is so far from ok! It is 20,000 feet from ok!)_

 _(It's ok because I'm going to solve it! My Labyrinth, my rules! My stories, my Labyrinth! I can do this, I can.)_

 _(You'd better, because otherwise I'm not sure how "going home" is going to work.)_

 _(Going home!? How about just being small enough to not crush the whole Goblin Castle?! The whole Labyrinth?!)_

 _(CALM. DOWN.)_

 _(Ok. Ok, I can be calm. I can. Calm. Let's see. If this is the Labyrinth, and I'm giant, and he's not… So he's still in the Labyrinth. That means he's… Tiny. So I can't move. Well, I could move_ away _from him.)_

 _(Oh god. What if I already crushed him, while I was getting taller - no, no. Don't even think that. He's hard to kill, remember?)_

 _(WHAT SEEMS LIKE AN EASIER OPTION, SARAH, AN ELF KING EVADING MELTING GOLD AND ICE OR MAYBE, I DON'T KNOW, BEING CRUSHED UNDER THOUSANDS OF TONS OF BOOT!? BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE IT'D BE A LITTLE EASIER TO SURVIVE THE FIRST COUPLE OPTIONS THAN THE SECOND!)_

"Shut up!" She whisper-screamed at herself.

 _(Ok,_ think _Williams. If I grew - bigger, and straight up - then there's a good chance I should still be in the same place. As him. Kind of. I think. I don't know. Maybe? Shit. Shit. But if it's true… I need to move away from him, so I just need to go further than he is. )_

 _(Theoretically.)_

 _(I just have to take one step forward, then. Ok. Ok. Just walking. I can do this.)_

"Jareth?" She called out uncertainly. "I'm going to - lift my feet. Don't. Move."

She took very careful steps back, holding her breath. As long as she didn't go forward, she should be fine.

 _('Fine'. Yeah. Totally 100% ok. Right.)_

"Ok, I'm - I'm just gonna figure this out real quick. Don't use magic! I got this. Piece of cake!" _(Piece of cake? You moron.)_ There was no way she had any idea how to fix this. "Shit." She breathed, massaging her forehead.

 _(I've got to figure this out. Why isn't he big with me? What fairy tale is this from, even?)_

 _(Maybe I'm_ supposed _to use this height? Like I can take us past the Labyrinth? I can outwalk it and carry him like an ant?)_

She glanced ahead, and saw nothing but the grass stretching before her for miles, heard nothing but the wind blowing the - the clouds. She sighed. No, it wasn't going to be that easy. The Labyrinth of course wasn't going to hand her a solution like that. She had to figure this out.

 _(Think. What is is from. What's is going on.)_

 _(Well, for starters, I'm huge.)_

 _(So… I'm a giant.)_

 _(Giants. Giants were common in fairy tales. What giants. Which giant did this Labyrinth belong to. Start thinking.)_

 _(Don't think about never being small again and stomping on him and everyone else you love and finding clothes in your size and forget bathing unless you like the ocean -)_

"Please shut up a second." Sarah groaned. She just needed silence from her inner monologue for a moment, just to crack this one.

 _(Giants. Ok. What do we know about giants, Sarah. They're large and destroy things like tiny Goblin Kings and trample kingdoms and their once normal-sized families and -)_

"I said _can it,_ brain."

 _(I'm right, though. They destroy things. Giants were in a lot of creation lore for that reason - titans, giant gods, earth creators, roaming the planet and making valleys with their footsteps or the galaxy, throwing their enemies into the stars and building constellations. They make the world with an accidental sneeze, or a big bang -)_

"Ok, but I don't think I'm supposed to make or break anything…" Sarah opened her eyes. That didn't make sense. What would she make, anyways? Besides, she wasn't in a barren landscape. She was already _in_ a world that was created. By her. Ok, so… Maybe not. She'd come back to it. Next theory. She closed her eyes again.  
Giants… Giants in fairy tales… Giants and ogres were used commonly in the same stories. Huge enemies that fought…

"Puss in Boots." Sarah opened her eyes. Nothing had happened. "The cat defeats him by… Getting him to change shape."

 _(Well, I have about as much control in that as I did a second ago. Next theory.)_ "Jack and the beanstalk." Nothing. _(There's no beans. No stalks. No geese, no cows, no nothing. Shit.)_

What did giants _do_? Was she supposed to do something? All they did in stories was fight. A boss level, a humongous enemy to eat people and crush things. Sometimes they were nice, but there weren't any answers there either.

"At least I'm not getting bigger." Sarah sighed.

 _(Ah! Wait. Bigger. You're missing one. A giant man. A giant man, who is suddenly large. Where is that from. A book. A story… It's -)_

"GULLIVER!" Sarah's voice boomed over the landscape, making her jump. "Sorry!" She squeaked out, clapping hands over her mouth. "It's - it's gotta be Gulliver… How did he escape anything? He washed ashore on a tiny land… And he escaped…"

 _(He escaped by pissing on a tiny fire. And then_ ** _he_** _became tiny when he found a country of giants.)_

 _(Ok, I'm not peeing on anything. If that's the solution I'll just die up here, in the sun.)_

"That can't be it. Please don't let that be it." She muttered.

 _(Oh my god. I'm not peeing. No. Fuck that. Right? Come on.)_

There had to be something else in Gulliver. _(Please let there be something else in Gulliver.)_

"There's not even a fire!" Silence. "I don't know! There's hundreds of other stories of giants! I can't go through all of them!" Sarah rubbed her temples.

She was starting to get a headache from the sun. All she could see was images of crushing cities like King Kong or Godzilla. Taking a quick wade across the sea to get to France. Growing into the stars and the moon and eventually floating into space. Running out of air. Accidentally stamping on Jareth, or Hoggle, or Ludo, or Didymus and not even hearing the crunch - _(Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Come on. You're missing something.)_

There must be a reason she was this big, and not larger or smaller. _(This exact size. What was it.)_ Sarah felt the tears of frustration.

 _(I don't know. I don't have a solution to this one! Not besides -)_

 _(Well, I'm not peeing. Bite me.)_

Bite me. How 16 years old. She ran out of creative insults when she got frustrated. Bite me. God, how would she even eat at this size? At least she had her powerbar. Great. One snack for the rest of her life. Good old "enerGpak" birthday cake flavor.

 _(Tastes more like Miss-Hervisham's-wedding-cake flavor.)_

Sarah pulled it from her bag. It was now huge like her, too. Big enough to feed a city.

"Shitty cake bar for everyone." Her stomach growled, a rumble that probably sound like thunder across the tiny grasscape below. Not that it mattered; if Jareth was listening to her, she must already sound insane throwing out random ideas and sentences.

 _(Why am I hungry? Is it because I'm growing? Really body? No appetite for a year and now I'm starving?)_

Maybe it wasn't as bad as when she'd tried it first. She nibbled. "Ugh -" It was exactly as bad as it had been. Maybe worse. She didn't even know if she could swallow the dry chalky b-

and then the ground shrank.

Sarah looked around just as she rocketed in size, the sun getting even closer, the Labyrinth disappearing completely, it was just a flat green lawn now and she was shooting higher and higher and - _what the fuck_ \- she opened her mouth to scream, choking on the power bar, spitting it out and coughing - just as she stopped growing abruptly.

"What - why - what -" It was hard to breathe, not just because of her choking and sudden shock - the air was thinner and she felt lightheaded. Sarah sucked in gulps, trying to avoid the now very-close clouds.

 _(Oh god. Oh no. Why. Why!?)_

Was she _supposed_ to get larger and larger? Was there a giant Labyrinth she was supposed to find, up in the heavens? No. No, that was ridiculous, she must've done something. _What?_ Why did she get _-_ Sarah looked around, trying not to be sick from the height, the dizzying perspective of endless green that lay below her, so far away and -

 _(Why did I grow!? What did I do!? BREATHE!? WHAT THE FUCK)_

It was just like when she'd grown the first time, no warning signs, no nothing, she'd just rested for a second -

 _(So what!? Am I gonna keep growing every 20 minutes now!?)_

But that didn't make sense either. She hadn't been walking _in_ the Labyrinth even 20 minutes when she'd grown the first time.

 _(So why now! Why did I grow! I didn't do anything! Or maybe I'm just supposed to never rest!? Ever!?)_

She hadn't even moved, she'd just sat there and breathed, and - and - _and ate a powerbar._

 _So…_

Sarah stood, not breathing, heart pounding. The solution was right there in front of her. It had to be.

Getting bigger just by sitting… And eating. Becoming a giant by eating… A powerbar.

She frowned. That didn't fit anything. She looked at it, clenched in her hand, the wrapper a shiny kind of cheap plastic that crinkled thinly.

 _(Was it magic somehow? Suddenly?)_

But it looked as stale and normal as ever, faded pink and white frosting that crisscrossed and drooped, trying to give the illusion of birthday cake. If a birthday cake had been drained of life and crushed into a square.

 _(So what? Getting bigger by…)_ Getting bigger by eating - _cake?_

Sarah frowned, a blurry image in her mind. A pink cake, a girl hitting her engorged head on the ceiling as she shot up in size, growing… Eat me… Cake…

She gaped in horror, staring at the bar. " _Wonderland."_

Oh god. _How_ could she be so stupid? _How_ could she forget that?

 _(And how could I think eating anything, even my regular food in this place would be a good idea!?)_

She dropped the bar, gagging, spitting the crumbs onto her sleeve and scraping it from her tongue.

 _(Alice. Alice eats_ cake _and Alice grows and she gets too big and she can't stop it -)_ "That's not fair! I didn't even drink anything to make me smaller in the first place! There's not a key! There's not a tiny door! I was _the right size!"_ Sarah's voice shook with fury, yelling at the sky. If Jareth could hear her rantings before, he'd definitely think she was insane now.

But that _had_ to be it. Maybe it wasn't about getting smaller. Maybe it was just about eating a foreign object in a magical land. After all, regular fruit here transported you to dream dances. Fuck. She'd been careless and stupid. Really stupid. _(Insanely, dangerously stupid. I just wanted a bite, too… Fuck me. Every time with the place. EVERY time! God_ damnit! _)_

 _(Ok. You hate it so much, time to beat it.)_

She took a deep and frustrated breath.

"Jareth - sorry for yelling!" She called out hesitantly. "But I - I _think_ I just figured it out… The story, the Labyrinth. It's - Alice in Wonderland. And she gets smaller by… Drinking…"

 _(But I don't have any water!)_ Panic again. _(Nonono… There's gotta be something I can drink…)_

Sarah ripped through her bag. No water. Nothing liquid at all. She had to drink something. Anything. Could she drink her tears? She was about to cry again anyway… She looked around in haze of anxiety, trying to think. Her eye caught a glimmer.

 _(No! There! A puddle! A puddle in the Labyrinth!)_

A puddle. It looked like tiny, but it didn't matter. Drink me.

 _(Worth a try…)_

"Jareth, I'm going to that… Puddle. If you can hear me. I have to drink it, that's how - in the story, that's how she gets smaller. If you can hear me, that's - where I'll be." She hesitated. "I'll… I'll find you."

 _(Somehow._ _Don't know how. I'll get there when I'm the right size. Somehow.)_

Sarah took a single step towards the tiny glittering patch of water, her leg soaring over the green miles of minuscule Labyrinth. She reached it, crouching down on all fours. How was she going to do this? It wasn't like she had a straw and could chug it.

 _(I'm gonna have to like… Slurp it. Like a weird soup.)_

A very weird soup. She leaned forward and extended her lips, praying there weren't any magical fish she'd be slurping up. Or worse, that this was a bog of stink. She got as much of it as she could, then sat up, the water on her tongue. The few sips she'd managed to get into her mouth tasted like mud, dirt, and girt as she forced it down and prayed. Nothing happened.

 _(Shit. That was the only plan I had. Really? The water isn't going to do anything ?At all? Come on! Drink me, and I did, and -)_ "But then - fuck! I don't know -"

And then Sarah's words were sucked away by the wind and she was shooting down, rocketing towards the ground, her hair flying up -

 _(I did it I did it I'm shrinking -)_

She'd done it, she'd done it, but the ground was coming up so fast and the sun was getting tinier and tinier and now it was small, _too_ small and the green was getting _too_ big -

"Fuck -!"

Sarah's scream was ripped from her lungs as she was swallowed up into the green.

"NO! NO NO NO!"

She thrashed around, kicking at giant green stems until she emerged at a rocky edge of the puddle-

 _(Oh god. That wasn't a puddle.)_

"Shit. Shit! No! Come on! God - fucking - shit -"

She kicked a bolder, hurt her toe, and flung herself down, exhausted, her now tiny bag thumping beside her. She hadn't drunk a pond. She'd fucking chugged a lake.

And now she stood on the edge of an empty crater, a sea of mud and algae slime stretched before her as far as she could see. These weren't rocks, they were pebbles. And where was her magical supersizing candy bar? Well, that was easy. She'd flung it away. Miles away. Hundreds of miles. As far from her as Jareth probably was. Oh god. Jareth.

 _(That's right. What did I say? Find me please. Just run a hundred miles or so and meet me at a lake you can't see. Also, I'm ant-size now. So don't squish me.)_

She'd made the same mistake as Alice. The exact same fucking mistake. She knew the story, she'd created the Labyrinth, and she'd still completely fucked it up.

 _(I can't even beat my own test.)_

Sarah yelled in anger, her tiny noise even more swallowed up into the grass. She couldn't see the energy bar. She could barely see the now-giant path through the crater that was the lake.

 _(Fuck. Fuck me.)_

She hit her legs with her fists, her disgusting and grubby hands punching her thin thighs hard enough to bruise them.

 _(A temper tantrum isn't helping Sar-)_

 _"_ _Shut up!"_ She screamed at the sky.

Alice in fucking Wonderland. She'd never liked that book as much as she'd wanted to. The dream logic infuriated her, and it read as more of a poem than a tale. She preferred stories. You could beat stories. You could use logic. Demented logic, but as long as you played by their rules, you were safe.

 _(Hey, this was also a rule, remember? Eat, grow big. Drink, grow small. It wasn't like you didn't know… If only I hadn't eaten that fucking candy bar… If I could go back in time and just not…)_

"If only I could reorder time." Sarah half-sighed, half-sobbed to herself.

Well, that was great. That was just fucking _peachy_. _Power of the Labyrinth my ass._ Control over it and all the magic you could handle, except you're not in control at all, and you're not even playing by magic rules you're aware of. Or magic logic you're aware of, because if she had been aware, if she'd have realized what was going on - or, hell. If she _did_ even have magic, even just the tiniest bit, then she would use it, she would beat this, she'd just - just - double back, re-loop time and yank that stupid bar out of her stupid mouth and -

wait.

Sarah held her breath, stomach flipping. "That - that won't -" She sat up, slowly. Logic. "But…" The idea was forming in her words. "You got bigger by eating the bar, you got smaller by drinking…"

 _(But if you were the right size to begin with…. Then, logically… If you couldn't go back in time, couldn't stop yourself from eating the cake…)_

"But… I _can_ …" Sarah stared into space, then sat up, slowly to a crouching position, still thinking.

This was a stupid idea. A really stupid idea. Only someone who was out of options would come up with this stupid of an idea.

 _(Unless it's brilliant.)_

This was far from brilliant. This was… Demented. This was literally rock bottom. Well, perfect. She glanced around. Yep, rock bottom was an accurate description to where she was currently sitting.

Sarah went on all fours, wiped her hand as best she could, took a deep breath, grimaced, and then stuck her fingers down her throat.

 _(Lovely dirt taste there. And what's that? A hint of slime?)_

She forced her fingers down further. This sucked. This really sucked. The taste sucked, the feeling, and all she was doing was gagging, choking, her eyes watering. She tried again. Nothing. It felt awful. She spat, removing her hand. It wasn't going to work. It wasn't going to happen. She couldn't force herself - she could just look for him, _the size of an ant, and then he'd step on her -_

 _(Come on Williams it's the only option.)_

She rammed her fingers back down her throat.

 _(This will work. This will work. Come on. Further.)_

She couldn't breathe.

 _(I couldn't hold down a meal for a whole year and now in my time of need I can't even do this -)_

 _(Further.)_

She would die of choking on her own fingers, this was great. Another brilliant win for the creator of the Labyrinth.

 _(Come on body you remember how to do this you did this so many times on your own, churning and rolling and heaving, you made me do this so remember how come on please it's the only way -)_

 _(Further.)_

There was no way a hand was supposed to be this far down a human throat, and -

 _(Get it out! Get it OUT! Goddamn it you nauseous, unreliable stomach, the one thing I could count on you to do for a full 365 plus days is puke! So DO IT NOW!)_

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't swallow, she could only taste dirt and slime and algae and fingers. Her stomach was churning and rolling and heaving, just like it had so many times, so many days, the familiar horrible nausea washing back over her like it had never left -

She retched, puking. Water poured from her mouth like a fountain and she was getting taller she was growing -

But she was going to be in the water as it was flooded everywhere and she was stumbling up and still puking and - it came in waves, flooding the grass but she was getting bigger and bigger and she fell, fell down into the rocks - no, now they were pebbles. Pebbles and mud, bruising herself, heaving, losing control of her body, her strength gone, only managing to turn her head to let the water out away from her, spewing an endless river of lake -

The river became a steady stream, a brook, a creek, then a trickle, and eventually she coughed out the last remaining drops, spitting.

And then she stopped.

It… Had worked.

 _(I'm… Not a giant. I think. I guess the powerbar made it out too.)_

 _(Yayyyy…)_

Even her thoughts were beyond exhausted.

Past the rocks on the far side, there was a split in the normal sized grass. The path. A path that fit her, that she could walk in. Not on, not over, not crush or stomp, just walk in. Not that she had the energy to move. She laid there for a while, untrusting of the waves of nausea that rolled over her utterly drained body.

 _(Fuck that was stupid.)_

It had been dangerous. It had hurt. But -

It also worked.

"Fuck you, Wonderland." Sarah breathed.

Now what?

Well, first of all…

She managed to sit up after a few minutes. Walking was out of the question, the ground felt very unsteady, and she felt very dizzy, but she rummaged in her bag, feeling for the toothbrush she carried with her. She'd kept a spare after her stomach had started getting bad, and she fished it out, putting on the paste with shaking hands.

 _(Please don't let the paste do something weird, too.)_ But there'd been no toothpaste in Alice and the familiar muscle memory of brushing calmed her down. At least her mouth tasted better.

 _(Should've just done this in the first place instead of eating that powerbar. Goddamnit, brain. Why.)_

She finished, spitting into the lake she'd just -… Expelled. Ok. Now she just had to find him. The path was there, she just had to go down it, and pray that she'd be able to…

Sarah felt even more energy slipping from her thinking about it. She pictured herself running after him in the weird mushrooms and flowers and whispering grass that all looked the same, searching for a way out and a way back to him, trying to hear him over the wind, calling out with her now-sore throat and raspy voice.

She really should have realized it was Wonderland. The flowers were too obnoxious. And the mushrooms, too. The colors and look of the place should've - she should've - known -

"Well, I got it eventually." She mumbled.

 _(At least the flora and fauna aren't talking to me. Or chasing me.)_

 _(Ok, Williams. Time to move. Racing around to find him doesn't sound good, but neither does waiting for him forever at puke pond.)_

She groaned, pushing off the ground to get to her feet. But, she told herself tiredly, at least it was _normal_ ground and her feet weren't standing _over_ the Labyrinth, and she saw the path right in front of her, so - so it really - couldn't be that ba-

" _Sarah!"_

She turned.

And there he was.

There'd been a second entrance but she'd been too tiny, and then too tired to see it. She stared, not believing. "Jar-?"

He moved _fast,_ so _fast,_ he was beside her instantly, grabbing her shoulders, holding her out, looking at her, hands digging into her arms, his eyes bright, hair ruffled. "Are you - how did - you're -"

"You found me!" She looked up at him, weak unbelieving laughter pushing out of her. "You…"

"I - yes, I -" He unclenched his hands from her shoulders, moving them up to her head, pushing her hair out of her face and trying to see her. "You -"

She hugged him.

It was stupid, oh it was stupid, she knew it was. She didn't mean to, she hadn't planned on it, she just - she -

\- wanted to feel him. She'd been so big, and then so small, she just wanted to feel right, and she'd been so afraid he'd was squashed or lost or gone…

 _(Get off of him. Let go. He doesn't want you to -)_

She tried loosened her arms, to push off, but she felt…

Hands.

He was pressing her to him.

 _(Oh.)_

Fingers dug into her tightly, pulling her closer.

 _(He's… Light. So thin and light. And…_

 _Warm. I forgot how warm he is.)_

 _(I never expect him to feel… Human? I don't… Know.)_

She felt her thoughts melting away into just being, just breathing and trying not to move, feeling his arms. They were long, one arm wrapping around her thin shoulders, the other arm slinking tightly around her waist. He was gripping her hard, holding her in place, as she felt his slow breathing against her. Sarah slumped, exhausted, her leg muscles too tired to try to hold her upright on her own. She pressed her face into him, warm and soft and that scent of electricity, ancient books and fall, of crisp leaves and cinnamon… She closed her sore eyelids.

 _(Can't I just do this? No more Labyrinths trying to kill me, just some… Rest? For once?)_

 _(Just stand here and… And…)_

"Sarah? Sarah!"

"Sorry - sorry -" Her knees had fully given out, and she almost collapsed, sliding sideways to his right as she struggled to stand up again. "I'm - I'm fin- I'm just really tired."

He scooped her. "I'm carrying you."

"That's not -" She was already in his arms. "I'm sorry, you don't have t- Jareth, it's - I just need a second -"

"Do stop talking. Changing that much mass would make anyone exhausted, even me."

"How'd you find me?"

"If you'll stop talking and rest -" He began walking. "Once I saw you grow, and then begin to move -"

"Did - oh god -" She struggled in his arms, trying to look at him. "Did I - are you ok? I was trying not to step on y-"

"Stop that." He shifted, forcing her back into position. "As I've said before, I am much harder to kill, but no, you didn't step on me. I only grew alarmed once you began to grow _again_. Even more so when you began to shrink from eyesight."

"Yeah." She snorted. "Me too. It was the stupid power bar. When we stopped. That thing I ate?"

He frowned. "How?"

"It was - I should've known. This is Wonderland. Look at the flowers, and the mushrooms." She gestured vaguely at the landscape as he walked through it.

"I'm not familiar."

"Wonderland is a place like… Like this. The girl in it eats its food and grows too big. Then she drinks and grows too small. Then she has to find the food again. It's -" His face looked as lost as she felt explaining it. "It's complicated. And stupid." Sarah yawned. "I ate the bar and got too big. So I drank a lake to get small. And then I - uh…"

Now he looked lost and concerned.

She shook her head. "… And then I couldn't find the candy bar so I puked up the lake. It - was not my best moment. I couldn't think of anything else. I was the size of an ant."

"I would've made you the right size -"

"How much magic do you have left, realistically?"

He looked straight ahead, ignoring the question as they rounded a bend.

"That's what I thought." Sarah sighed. _(Because if you had anything left, something tells me you would've healed me a long time ago, or repaired your shirt, or gotten us out of some of those other deathtrap mazes.)_

She was so tired. And as much as she didn't want to think about it, his arms were… Comfortable. A nap sounded so -

No. _(Come on, brain. I need some energy. Please? I have to fix this. We must be getting close to the end by now… Please…)_ "Jareth," She began, her throat straining against the words. "I think that I can w-"

"You will rest, Sarah." He ordered, his voice was quiet but defined above the rustling grass. "Just for a moment." She couldn't really think of an argument against it… Just for a moment… Just for a second, to let him have the control…

 _(Fine. But I'm not closing my eyes. I'm not falling asleep. Not yet.)_

A moment stretched into moments as she let herself be cradled against his movements, and she tried to relax, letting her eyes wander over the grass as it leveled out, waning its height, slowly losing the weird colors, sinking into a single muted dark green…

 _(So long and good riddance.)_

Sarah peered around him, seeing the sea of overgrown waving grass and the dirt road left behind them. Her eyes began to close…


	28. Hedging the Bet

A/N: Well well well well, if it isn't me, back with another long-winded chapter devoid of answers and an odd amount of adverbs. Heh. And I only waited a month this time! (I am sorry, duty called.) Good news is I still plan on holding to my promise of finishing this by halloween. That's... One new chapter a week, roughly? Kinda? I'm not good with math. 11 weeks till halloween. That... Doesn't seem right. I don't have 11 chapters left. We ARE eventually coming to a close. Just a few more challenges... ALSO HEY THANKS FOR THE FOLLOWS NEW PEOPLE! I CROSSED 60! HOLY CANOLI, WELCOME TO THE MADNESS! Aka me posting very slowly and irregularly so crazy and wild, I know. To the people who were kind enough to review: Thank you so much! I am here, I promise! And thank you for bothering to stick around. Your input always gives me good vibes and makes it worth the updating. Alright! HEre we GO! NEW CHAPTER NEXT WEEK BECAUSE WHILE MATH MIGHT NOT BE MY STRONG POINT, I HATE CLIFFHANGERS MORE SO YOU'RE GETTING ONE EITHER WAY! 

**Hedging the Bet**

 _(So long and good riddance.)_

Jareth trekked uphill for a ways and then his comfortable movement stopped. Sarah opened her aching eyelids.

A valley of hedge Labyrinth was spread out before them.

"What -" Sarah began. "Put me down."

He didn't move.

"Jareth, put me down."

He sighed, placing her gently on the ground, grabbing onto her shoulders as she stumbled slightly on the uneven hill. Her knees groaned inwardly.

"This doesn't make any sense…" Sarah stared out at it.

"It would appear to be a hedge Labyrinth." He remarked.

"But that's _why_ it doesn't make any sense! You _have_ a hedge maze in your Labyrinth! Why is it repeating itself?"

Wonderland… _(There had to be a clue in that, right? A hedge maze in Wonderland? There was one, wasn't there? So Wonderland was repeating itself? Or continuing into the Looking Glass? Did I not beat it? I thought getting back to normal-size would be the end of it… Or… Is it his?)_

But there was something about it that didn't look… Right. It was looked dark and somehow menacing, and his hedge Labyrinth had been… Well, not exactly welcoming, but bright, and not so -

 _(Imposing. His didn't look like this.)_

"Perhaps you enjoyed some parts of my Labyrinth after all." He noted wryly, interrupting her thoughts.

She scoffed, but stared apprehensively out at the forbidding mass. _(Hmm. Something about this one makes me feel… Weird. Maybe it's the Deja vu…)_

She tried to think, incoherent scraps of memories and ideas piling into her exhausted brain as they went down the rest of the trail in silence. Her feet hurt as she skid along, but the rocky path didn't seem stable enough for him to safely carry her.

 _(He's gotta be pretty tired by this point, too, no matter how baddass he insists on acting.)_ She reminded herself.

 _(Baddass?)_

 _(Look, he's a lot of not-great adjectives, but baddass is one that he actually deserves to have after the past - however long we've been here.)_

 _(How long have we been here? It feels like days… But we still haven't won, or solved it yet… Are we any closer?)_

She kept her eyes on the ground, trying not to lose her balance. They finally reached the bottom, Jareth turning around to grab her as she pinwheeled her arms, skidding down the last portion of uneven path.

"Thanks." She gripped his hands, finally stepping onto even ground, only to sink down. Sarah looked down, startled. The grass was beneath her feet was… Thick. Carpety. It was like stepping into a sponge. She frowned, stamping, but her boots didn't even leave a footprint.

"Shall we?"

Sarah looked up at the hedges, and her jaw swung open.

She hadn't seen them as they were hiking down because she was concentrating on placing her feet correctly, but before her was the Labyrinth. The hedges were _huge,_ towering above, at least several stories, like great monolithic leaf buildings. Almost as tall as the well had been, it stood before them as an opposing green mass. The overhead sun was bright, but somehow Sarah was suddenly cold, a shiver of dread unfurling up from her stomach. These hedges… Was this still Wonderland? They weren't regular hedges… They were too… Too _leafy_ somehow, she couldn't place it, but they didn't look right, like the grass. It was grass, but grass didn't feel like this, not thick and absorbing _,_ and it was all so _dark._

"Uh…" She gulped. "It's a lot… Taller up close."

" _You_ were much taller but a few moments ago, I assure you."

Sarah let out a breathless chuckle. He led her forward, towards the shadowed entrance.

 _(Here we go, Williams. Brace yourself.)_

For what? She didn't have much left in her.

 _(What the fuck happens in Wonderlands's maze, anyway? I can't remember. Her story was never that linear. If this Alice. Or if this is his old maze… Well, nothing happened in this part of his Labyrinth besides rescuing Ludo, I think…)_

Sarah's mind tried to race through options but it was scattered, jumping from Alice to Jareth's Labyrinth to anything involving creepy plants… She suddenly felt cold and hot at the same time, her heart leaping _like it wants to run away like I want to run away I do not want to go into this one - I don't want to -_

He hesitated, and she turned towards him, trying not to look as tired or apprehensive as she felt. "Ready?" She gave her least shaky-sounding laugh, but it was hollow.

"Always." He caught her eyes, and Sarah felt her weak smile melting off of her face.

 _(Come on don't look scared in front of him, you can do this, it's just another stupid Labyrinth - be fucking brave, Williams - )_

She swallowed and turned away, not wanting him to see -

Jareth wordlessly shifted his arm, loosening it, and she dropped from his side. Her arm swung and it felt - empty. Sarah glanced down at her limp elbow, about to open her mouth in - protest? Or maybe confusion, why was he -

His hand slid into her's, his long fingers finding her own, intertwining and gripping with a familiar firm warmth.

"I will protect you, Sarah Williams."

He murmured it with a finality, and Sarah simply stared. His hand in hers, _around_ hers, and it felt -

reassuring. And safe. And -

And she wasn't pulling away, or making a quip, or swatting at him. She was just staring, and she didn't know what to - do.

"Ok." She finally said.

 _(What?)_

 _(I… I don't know.)_

 _(You can't just hold hands with him! He kidnapped your brother! He sent you into traps! He -)_

 _(Will protect me.)_

She suddenly didn't know how to feel or where to look or what to do, so she just let him - hold - her hand. Jareth, the King of Goblins, holding her in his warm, rough, long-fingered grip, and it didn't feel -

Wrong.

Ok. She could do this. She held Toby's hand constantly. She shook hands all the time. She even gave high fives. She could do all those things, normal, human things in everyday life, so… So she could walk a Labyrinth holding an elf's hand.

 _(Whatever. I'm not focused on being flippant or clever right now. I just - this thing is huge. Why am I dreading this so much? What's going to be worse than getting burned by gold and stabbed by glass and suffocating by opium and being a giant? Not much else. Let's just get in and get out. Right? Right. Nothing to worry about, or at least nothing worse than I've already faced. With him. Should be easy - especially if it_ is _his. Then I've already done this one, just got to find Ludo and wrap it up. Piece of - well, ok, not that easy. Calm down.)_

His hand tightened, just for a brief fraction of a second, and then he was moving forward, guiding her. They walked in and the cushioned silence hit.

There had been silence throughout the Labyrinth, in almost every terrain, but this was… It was like being in a padded room. The sound wasn't just gone, it was _swallowed._ Sarah looked around, a chill crawling up the base of her spine. The hedges were towering above, almost blocking out the light, casting dark contrasting shadows around them. The path beyond the entrance split into a T passage, and he considered before choosing the left side. She shivered as they walked down a long hallway of hedge, gripping onto him rather tightly.

"I rather like this one."

She stared at him. His tone was light, clipper.

"It reminds me of what it used to be…" His voice trailed off wistfully.

 _(I'm pretty sure this is nowhere close to your Labyrinth. I've got a - I really don't feel good about this one.)_

 _(Because all my other feelings have been so positive and cheery.)_

 _(I can't help it, this one is really… Daunting.)_

"Well… It'll be back to normal quickly enough. All this can be yours." She gestured vaguely as they turned a sharp right. More foliage met their eyes. The corners were so _neat,_ she noticed. Crisp lines and angles, leaves and dark greens that were wild but so obviously man-made, trimmed within an inch of its life to become an architecture that was completely unnatural…

"Indeed…" His wistful tone was still there.

"You miss it." It wasn't a question. She just had to - make sure she was reading him right.

"Always."

Always. _(That weird tone he uses when he says always. He said it like that when we were in the caves, too… Always what?)_

They came to a fork, going left, and abruptly looped around, coming back to the entrance.

 _(What? The entrance? Again?)_

 _(Well, that's a disappointing start. We went in a giant circle. Or a square, I guess.)_

"Do you think… This is the end?" Sarah said, her mind blank. He met her gaze, raising one of those shocking eyebrows.

"Of the path? No, it's just a wrong turn. We'll go this way." They went down the T corridor again, going right this time.

She nodded, feeling his eyes on her.

"Oh. You were referring to the Labyrinth."

She lifted her shoulders in a stiff shrug, trying to be casual. "Yeah, the - end of - of the Labyrinth?"

"Once more, you know better than I." Jareth faced forward, expression composed and regal. And without any answers.

"I don't know, it's just…" It was just that she'd spoken without thinking and her words trickled into nothingness.

"Do you… Want it to be the end?"

"I -" Sarah paused. Of course she wanted it to be the end. She wanted to stop almost dying, to stop pitting her brain up against an unthinking Labyrinth, to stop…

 _(But…)_

"Ah." He observed.

"No, I - I just… I…" _(Don't… What? Why don't I have the answer to this? Why…)_

 _(Why isn't my answer duh? Of course? Or yes? Or… Any of those?)_

 _(Why not?)_

Sarah stared into the dark haze around her and frowned as he turned them left. Hesitating was not something she did. Answers. She had answers and she knew what she wanted, and…

But now she didn't.

Of course she wanted it to end. To go home. To see Toby. To live her life, but… Her life with… With them in it. So…

"I - I mean…" Her nervous laugh propelled her words. "I have to go back. Eventually."

Silence.

 _(But… He knows I'm coming back. I told him so earlier. I'll fix this - whatever it is - and it'll work.)_ "This… This _will_ work, right?" She ventured.

"What." His tone was far away as they wormed through a series of sharp twists.

"This… Plan. What we're doing. We'll solve the Labyrinth, I'll give it back to you, and then I can go home? But you'll… They'll be able to see me, right? There won't be a barrier or a block or anything?"

"Something like that." That dreamy tone again.

"Something - something like that? What does that mean? Won't you get your magic back?" Sarah glanced at him.

"It will… Work."

"What… Why did you say 'something'? Is there… What happens if this doesn't work?"

"It will _._ "

"But…" Her frown became tinged with concerned. "But we have a plan, right? We just keep solving them until we get to the end and that gives you back the magic, right? The throne? Everything? That's how it goes? That's what we're doing?"

"In a way…"

 _(And here we go. Mr. Paradox. I don't want to answer your questions, so every question is now a question.)_

"What if it doesn't work?" She stopped suddenly, or tried, as he kept walking and she skidded onwards on the grass. "Hey! _Hey!"_

"Hm?" He looked down, as if just noticing her in his hand.

"I said, what if this doesn't work? What if -"

"Should I repeat myself again?" His voice wasn't angry, but there was a cool, slicing indifference under it that made her want to step back as he stared into the distance, ignoring her.

 _(Whoa. What the fuck is this? He's not getting enchanted again, is he? We're back to the 'Don't mess with me I'm a high and mighty elf, you human pleb' tone? And nice try, but your special King voice isn't going to stop me from asking questions.)_ "I… I'm just… Jareth, I have to get back."

"Do you." Now he was focused. Now he stared at her, meeting her eyes with his own intense gaze, which sparkled light and dark and hidden in a forest of murky green.

" _We_ need to _fix this._ Your kingdom, your Labyrinth, your power? Remember?"

The hedge's shadows reflecting back at her from the depths of his eyes.

"We _do_ need to… Repair certain things." He conceded slowly, placing the words into the air.

 _(What? Of course we do, of course we have to fix… This.)_ "Well, good, we save the world, solve the Labyrinth, I'm home in time for bed, everything works out." She paused at his unchanging expression. "Don't… Don't get _mad_."

"Home…" His head tilted.

Home? _(Home? That's what this is about? Me going home? Really? Why is he doing this?)_

 _('Why did you want me to stay…')_

She forcefully remembered the past thought as it pushed through her inner dialogue.

 _(That was the question you didn't want to ask, wasn't it Sarah?)_

 _(What question?)_ She thought to herself as innocently as possible, mentally sweating.

 _(Why, Jareth. Why did you want me to stay -)_

 _(No. Not that again. I am not thinking about that, especially when I'm trying to get answers now! He wanted my brother, not me, just like he wants to get the Labyrinth solved, and I want to get back home.)_

 _(Right?)_

 _(And I'm especially not thinking about that when he's holding my hand.)_

"Home." She repeated, trying to ground herself. "Where I live. I have to go back. After we're done."

He considered her. "To go back and play with your costumes and your toys."

 _"_ _Excuse_ me? Why am _I_ suddenly the bad guy!? What did you think was going to happen!? It's - not - it's not going to be like that! At all! People -" Her frown of confusion deepened. "People are… Depending on me."

"I see. People. Do people not depend upon you here?"

"I mean - what?" _(Depend on me!? Hey guys. I ruined your lives and your homes. It's me, dependable Sarah. Cheerio.)_

Jareth looked away at her silence. "We should keep moving."

There. His tone went from cold to a fiery brusk, a final snap, and they were walking again, whether or not her legs could keep up. She sprawled, half-leaping, half-jogging to keep speed with him. "Wait - I mean - I know people are depending on me - I need them too! I just - Toby, and -"

"Toby is his own human, as I understand. Parents take care of him, I believe is the custom."

"What is the other option, here? Realistically!?" She panted. "What!?" _(What are you trying to say? What do you_ mean!? _Goddamnit. Just answer me! Like a -)_

 _(Like what? A normal person? A human?)_

 _(Oh shut up, logic.)_

She pressed on. " _I_ rule over the goblins? _I_ hold magic that I can't control and have no idea how to work? How does that work out for _you!?_ What do you become then!?"

"And what happens when you go home? What happens when you're away from this place? Last time, you were gone in the blink of an eye, leaving you to waste away over -" He stopped, drawing a thin breath through his nostrils.

"A - _what?_ " She couldn't believe she heard him right. "A blink of an eye!? It was a goddamn year or more, and you know it! Maybe to - to - _super timelord elves -_ " - Not her best, but not her worst - "- it was a _blink of an eye_ , but as I recall, you seemed pretty broken up about it too, considering where your castle and magic is!"

 _(Shit.)_

His eyes widened slightly, then narrowed as his whole expression clouded. Calling him out wasn't the direction she'd wanted to this to take, especially if she needed answers.

"Wait." She held up a hand as he opened his mouth to speak. "That's not what I wanted to - I didn't mean to say that."

"What's said is -"

"Jareth, I'm human, and I'm _tired._ We - it was bad for both of us." She paused, conceding. "Probably - more so for you, and the Labyrinth. I'm just - I'm getting nervous. And worn out. And I'm going to have to go home at some point, so all I'm wondering is: Do we have a plan? In case I like - finally do break a leg or impale myself. What do we do? How do we know when it's over?"

"I -" He stopped suddenly. She almost tripped, opening her mouth to-

They were at another T passage.

 _(Another? Or…)_

 _(Is this the same? The same… Right by the entrance.)_

 _(What? No, that's not possible, we didn't go in a circle, we walked away from it, it's just the Labyrinth, making everything look the same. I'm - pretty sure.)_

 _(Maybe this one just likes - likes T entrances. The mirrors were all false angles and the mushrooms had squiggly trials, and the well curved everywhere, so - maybe this one likes similar-looking repeating lines.)_

"Another one." Sarah swallowed. "Weird. Just like… The beginning."

He let out a long, slow breath. "It's… It is the same. It's not letting us through. I feel - it is guiding us… Away. From the exit. It's taking us deeper instead."

"So…" She watched as Jareth's frown cut into his face and her dread, which had died down during her confusion at him, began to creep back up. "Well…" Sarah swallowed. "It's… Guiding us! That's - nice. Maybe the path on the left is the way to go, because we have to - to solve something."

"Maybe." His voice was like steel as he turned them down the left path again.

"The same way again? Bu-" She began.

"It's the _right_ way."

 _(But we just did this - alright, you're the quest guide or whatever. If you say it's the right path it's the right path. Left path. Whatever.)_

 _(Or maybe it's not that easy. Let's just - hypothetically. Let's say it is the same T, and we're back at the entrance. So, if this is the same, and we're going in circles, then… What Labyrinth is this? Alice… Alice… Is this Wonderland?)_

They needed to be careful. If it was leading them in circles, maybe.… Maybe the right path was hidden? A camouflaged entrance in an already confusing Labyrinth would take a while to go through, and she didn't have the energy left to waste time.

Jareth's hand was now stiff against hers, almost uncomfortably tight, but she didn't move it. This maze was huge, and Sarah felt like if she let go even for a second she'd be lost, ripped from his side by… Something. She didn't know what.

 _(No moving hedge animals or Jack Torrances please.)_ She prayed silently. The path twisted and they followed, scooting around the corners.

 _(I wanted answers, but now…)_

 _(Look at his face. That expression combined with this Labyrinth and your tired brain, you really think you're going to get anything out of him besides an argument? The best you can do right now is focus on not worrying and crying from exhaustion.)_

The path curved, then straightened. She bit her lip.

 _(Well, but… Fuck. It's a fair question - what am I going to do if this doesn't work? How am I supposed to know everything? He's the one who didn't fill me in until the ice caves, for starters…)_

He paused slightly, listening, the frown still playing about his face. She waited, but he said nothing, pulling them further down the path, moving at a faster pace.

 _(… Because he didn't know either, until we were actually in the Labyrinth and getting hurt… And maybe he doesn't know_ now _, Sarah.)_ She realized. _(Maybe probing endlessly while he doesn't have a clear idea on how to fix his Labyrinth isn't helping his confidence in us solving it. He's just trying to get us through, but he clearly doesn't have all the answers. You're supposed to. Your Labyrinth, your rules.)_

He sped up, and now she was jogging to keep up with him. She sighed. Well, she wheezed, her jogging making her struggle for breath. "Hey, why are we run-"

They were back at the T. She blinked, hard.

 _(Well, I don't know what he was expecting, we went in the same direction as last time, but… It seemed like he had an idea.)_

 _(Shit. Are we doing something wrong? Or maybe… He's missing something about the path? Maybe I should make him rest… God knows I'd love to nap for a solid 24 hours…)_

 _(When you're done and balance is restored, maybe, O great hero/dungeon master/destroyer of worlds.)_

Still, it was the same entrance, and she frowned. ( _What is going on.)_ "Do you think -" She started.

Jareth wordlessly turned around and walked them back in. "I think something's… Trying to trick us."

 _(What does that mean?)_ She glanced at him but his face was dark. _(A Labyrinth that was confusing the person who rules the Labyrinth… Congrats, brain, you've really outdone yourself on this one.)_

Again he turned down the left path, which rounded as they followed, twisting around a complicated and long series of corners until -

Dead end. He let out a frustrated growl from the back of his throat, making her jump.

 _(A dead end? We've been this way twice, so how is that…)_ "Possible…" She breathed. Her chill deepened.

"This _is_ the right way." He ground his heel into the grass, his chin jutting out as he clenched it. "Stupid bugger."

Sarah resisted the urge to nervously giggle. _(Bugger?)_ "Is… We keeping going this way because it's the right way, right? So is the exit hidden, like a gate, or -"

"No… This is it, but… Now it's not."

 _(… Huh?)_

He pulled her back down the corners they'd just rounded, and they went past a few, turning and going until the path…

And were back at the T.

Wait.

The path had been…

 _(Way longer, moments ago. Way more corners, taken way more time to walk… Hadn't it?)_

Sarah swallowed. She wanted to ask, but had a nasty feeling she already knew the answer.

What Labyrinth was this? Wonderland? It had to be Wonderland. But… Something was bugging her. Wonderland…

Where was there a maze in Wonderland? A garden, sure, but…

They went right this time.

Sarah glanced at Jareth again. His face was worrying her. It wasn't just frustrated, it was - tired, she thought. Strained.

"Do you want to rest?" She tried.

"Not unless you desire it." He glanced at her.

 _(I want to get the fuck out of here, is what I desire. A Labyrinth that twists and turns and shortens where it shouldn't is not where I want to be.)_

But what were Wonderland's challenges? Specifically, Alice's. She'd eaten something… Cried a river… There was a caterpillar… And mushrooms… _(But where were there hedges? Or a hedge Labyrinth? I mean… There must be a maze in Alice but…. But… What part? What did she do in it? I can't remember… What's the fucking challenge here, just to get us lost? Right, but…)_

But that didn't seem very Wonderland-like. There should be a maniacal cat, or talking flowers or creepy twins that wanted to play, or…

 _(And if were his hedge Labyrinth, it'd be a lot more well-lit, and Ludo would be in it, and -)_

 _(Ok, I think both he and I know at this point there's no way this is his. Unless it somehow symbolically represents his so-called dark side and moodiness. And there's no way that's a thing in any story I read.)_

 _(I mean, I studied hedge mazes, and the Labyrinth book itself, but that's not the same thing. This maze was not in the Labyrinth, not in the one I walked and not on the pages I read.)_

 _(My fairy tale - but what no one knew is that the King of Goblins -)_

 _(Shut up shut up shut up. Stop thinking about that stupid line from that stupid book.)_

 _(A very specific line from that stupid book got you out of here last time, so I wouldn't shut it down completely.)_

 _(Not-thinking-about-it-not-thinking-about-it-doesn't-apply-to-me-it's-not-the-focus-of-the-problem-right-now-tralalala-)_

The path began to weave and they came to a three-pronged archway. It was wilder, the arches not perfectly sculpted, slightly askew, leaves now poking out at odd angles.

"Oh…" She remarked even as her heart sank. _(A new entrance. We're not at the beginning but that - this shouldn't be here. It's not possible. We should -)_

 _(No, come on. It'll be fine. And this is great. We're making progress.)_

 _(Is it progress if it's misleading us on purpose?)_

He chose the first arch on the far-left, and the path spiraled around.

 _(Maybe it's good. Maybe we won't start again. Maybe we have to get deeper to get to the exit. And this is new, and that's good because hey, it means were getting somewhere, right? Maybe we won't start again.)_

Around and around, looping until it popped them back to the three arches.

"Uh…" _(Goddamnit.)_ Ok. So they'd made it past the entrance, but now they were stuck at an archway. Maybe optical illusion had something to do with this Labyrinth. Or - or weird portals that only let them go in circles. That made sense in the world of Wonderland.

 _(But he can sense that, right? So we shouldn't be going in circles at all! He knows which paths to take - unless he's too tired…)_ Sarah's head hurt. They turned around, taking the first arch again.

This time the path was a giant straight line, and she could see the arches before they came out.

"What. Is. Happening." Sarah stared. "Maybe - just give me a minute. This has to be from a story somehow, or a -"

But he charged her forward, dragging them back down the same path, retracing their steps. "This _is_ the right way."

"I know, but just - hey!"

Jareth narrowed his eyes, staring the path down. Down the passage again, his nostrils flaring as he glared into the foliage. Sarah glanced around them, waiting.

 _(What is going on? Is he hearing something?)_

The path changed to tight little zigzags, and they wrapped around the corners awkwardly until it suddenly straightened out as they rounded a corner and were back at the arches.

 _(It's changing every time. Every time. But it's still the same. Different path, same end result.)_

 _(Are we not seeing a secret entrance? Why does it keep doing that? It wants us to go down the path… It wants us to accept the other way, but it's the wrong one…)_

 _(And what is he watching?)_

He stared at the entryway, eyes screwed to angry slits.

 _(And what am I missing?)_

Sarah narrowed her own eyes as she was pulled forward to the middle entrance. There was something about this new one, it was… Tighter.

Narrower?

No. No, no.

No, because claustrophobia was not something they needed to go against. Besides, that wasn't in Alice, and it wasn't in anything else either and she was _not_ going to deal with it.

Back at the arches.

They went down the middle _again_ , which now went diagonally, doing large twists. Her gaze strained, trying to watch both him and the Labyrinth, listening as hard as she could, her hair getting caught on the leaves as they rushed past. _(What is this -)_

They were back.

"Maybe -" Sarah swallowed. "Maybe it's not the same arches. Somehow."

He let out a long, slow breath. "We both know that's not true."

"So… Now we can't even choose our path!? Is this the challenge? Some kind of shit quantum maze!?" She tried to yell into the hedges, but her voice sounded barely above talking level.

"It would perhaps appear that is the case. I know we… I keep losing the path."

Sarah looked at him. "Hey." He didn't look at her. She tugged on his cloak, and he stiffly turned to face her, eyes hard. "Are you _sure_ you don't need a - a break or -"

"I'm fine."

"But - Jareth, wait -"

But he was already pulling her down the middle path. She huffed, jogging to keep up with his strides, trying not to trip on his cloak.

"You said you're losing the path. Does that mean you're getting lost, or are you - losing your sense of -?"

He snorted. "No."

 _(Fine. Great talk. Excellent communication skills, Supreme Ruler.)_ Sarah rolled her eyes. The path opened suddenly into a straight passage.

"You see? This wasn't here last time…"

"Right, but…" Sarah swallowed. "Are they - the paths - changing, or are _we_ just doing something wrong? You said you're losing the path, so what's going on with you? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong. The Labyrinth is… It's not letting us go the right direction, is it? I mean, if this is the challenge, then maybe we should just follow it b-"

"I'm not _losing_ it, it's just… Evading me."

 _(Sounds like me when_ I _lose something.)_ Sarah bit back her response, looking up at the narrow slit of sky, far, far above them. It was almost dizzying, it was so - far away, and she felt even smaller, even tighter -

They reached arches again and Sarah stifled her sigh of resignation. He turned them around through the middle. Back, back, all the way back. Sarah shook her head, her hair catching in unruly leaves. _Ow._

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Right.

Right.

Arches.

 _(Fuck.)_

Wait.

… Wait.

"We haven't… Gone backwards." She pointed out, hesitating. "I mean… I'm guessing the path on the right leads deeper or the wrong way or whatever, so we want to avoid it, but we haven't tried going _backwards_ down the last passage we were on…"

He stared at her a second, then turned back around as they retraced their steps. It didn't look any more familiar than the other ways they'd taken, the thick ground under her feet robbing the sound of her footsteps.

 _(How do I beat a Labyrinth like this? Why does it keep changing?_ _I really don't remember anything this creepy in Wonderland… Well, but think about all the other fairy tales. Pretty sure wishing wells don't involve getting sucked down a whirlpool and evil reflections don't attack you either.)_

They were back at the arches.

 _(Goddamn fucking piece of shit story this is.)_ She ground her teeth in frustration.

"It was a useful suggestion." Jareth remarked dully, then led them slowly into the right arch.

 _(And now we have no choice but to go deeper. Come on brain. Get me out of here before we can't turn back. Help. Think faster, harder, something.)_

This path was _definitely_ narrower, and more disheveled, the leaves no longer prim, but rough. She yanked her head forward, her hair tangling more frequently now, getting caught in the closeness of the hedges.

Sarah felt something brush against her shoulder and jumped. It was a leaf. It was just a leaf. But now -

"Shit." She breathed.

If she was brushing against the Labyrinth, then… Now the Labyrinth _was_ closing in on them. Fuck. This was too close. Maybe it was trying to trap them, to lure them in slowly. Make them think they were going to come to the entrance and then turn around on them at the last second, entombing them in the pattern. The further in they went, the closer it became, and if that was true then they needed to go back, they needed to turn around, and -

"Jareth," Sarah looked behind them, towards the disappearing wideness of the passage. "I think we should -"

Her view lurched slightly as they walked, and in the dark emerald of the hedges it was hard to see, but as she glanced behind them -

She squinted.

The Labyrinth was moving.

 _The Labyrinth was closing._


	29. A Rose by Another Name

Ok! I have VERY limited time to post this but I promised another chapter this week! Here we go! Copy and pasting what I had saved in my doc manager so I didn't have the capacity to read reviews or look at stats but: 1. Thank you and I can't wait to read them! 2. I FINALLY CROSSED 60 FOLLOWERS HEYO WELCOME 60 OF YOU! THAT'S ENOUGH TO MAKE A SMALL ARMY! WE COULD STORM SOMETHING TINY! 3. Thank you once again for the reviews and kind words! Yes I know I already made that point! So what! You can't stop me! DOUBLE THANK YOUS AGAIN. IT'S MY A/N AND I'LL APPRECIATE YOU MULTIPLE TIMES IF I WANT TO. CHEERS. OK HERE'S WHAT I COPYPASTED:

Toldja I hated cliffhangers, the author wrote, just as they dropped another cliffhanger. (Also yes this one is a bit easy to guess! But remember Sarah is real tired!) 

**A Rose By Another Name**

"NO!" Sarah dug in her heels, skidding, trying to twist around. Branches and leaves wove together, binding, tangling, into each other as a mesh. It was silent, silent and _fast._

She tried to pull them backwards, back toward the arches, but she was already staring at a wall as she strained against him. "No! No, that - fuck!" She panted. "Did - did you see -"

"Careful." He pushed her behind him. "Wait."

They moved slowly towards it, but the wall did nothing.

"How _obvious._ " He chuckled. "I suppose I _am_ a bit weary. I should have guessed."

"So… So what?" She panted. "It's… A Labyrinth that moves. A Labyrinth that -" Sarah swallowed. "Is it…"

"Alive? Yes, yes I should think so." He sniffed, as if unimpressed. "Not entirely original, but we can work with it."

"Work with it!? Jareth it's -" Her heart was in her throat. "It's _sealing_ us in!"

"Hardly." His eyes were calm sparks blazing in the darkness. "It's simply forcing our path forward and deeper, and closing behind us. Like a door, Sarah."

 _(A door that's alive!)_

He turned them forward, going down the trail that lay before them.

 _Alive. The Labyrinth was alive._ She knew something gave her the creeps about this one. _(And rewriting itself as we go down the wrong paths, and now it's upgraded to blocking us from going back…)_

 _(I mean the mushrooms kind of… Did this, but - but at least the path didn't change on us as we walked it, they just sort of - shepherded us around. This is - a - creature. A living force. And either way it doesn't matter, because I hated the mushrooms too!)_

 _(I'm exhausted. I want a guide, or an easy clue, or something! Just once, to not wander around for an hour with mounting dread while something tries to sneak up on us…)_

 _(Because you didn't get enough of a break for a year, waiting?)_

She blinked. That wasn't what she'd meant. It was just…

Her hair snarled in another twig and she let out a yelp, crashing into him as she tried to pull herself free.

"What -"

"OW! Sorry - it's my hair - it's trying to get my hair!" Her voice was a yelp as her chest tightened. This panic wasn't good. She couldn't think clearly, trying to rip her hair out from the bush and right now -

"Hold still." He dropped her hand, reaching for her.

"Ow ow o-" _(Oh my god, it's going to pull me in.)_ She tugged feverishly. If she had to rip her hair from the bush, so be it.

"It's not trying to get your hair, you got tangl-"

She thrashed nonetheless, visions of mushrooms conjuring up, surrounding her, pulling her away from him. _Get it off get it oFF!_ "No!"

"Hold _still,_ Sarah." He leaned over her, both his arms around her neck, reaching past her to release her hair, and she was suddenly very close to his chest.

 _(Very close? That's what you're focusing on? You were parallel to him, for god's sake. Don't get distracted. Neck hugs don't exist, you moron.)_

 _(As long as I don't get eaten by a hedge, he can noogie me for all I care! My hair - it's going to - to swallow me or -)_ "Help -"

Her panic was simmering, and he made a low noise, some cross between a scolding cluck of the tongue and a hum, and it distracted her for a moment, she focused on the sound - he worked very gently, finally pulling her free, drawing her -

Into him. She was frozen as he smoothed down her hair, combing it through with his fingers -

 _(Ok this really is a lot like a hug -)_

 _(AGAIN I WILL TAKE THAT OVER THE ALTERNATIVE, THANKS. NO HEDGE SCALPING TODAY.)_

She had to concede, however, that this really wasn't helping her stupid racing heart. He moved his fingers forward from her jaw, tilting her head up to look at her.

She swallowed, going from frozen to petrified stone.

"Better?" He watched her.

"Yep." _(Nope. You're somehow making this suddenly worse, anxiety-wise.)_ "Thank you." She remembered.

His fingers moved lightly up her face, and she remembered again how they'd felt around her hand, warm and firm and familiar. But not as warm as her face currently felt, her skin was on fire and she couldn't think for through the heat -

 _(Stupid you're stupid what are you doing what is he doing -)_

 _(He started it -)_

 _(Well, I'm not gonna be the one to end it - I'm gonna step away and -_

 _and -)_

 _(annnnnddd…..)_

And she was paralyzed as he tucked a stray wisp behind her ear.

"I said I would protect you, Sarah." He frowned slightly. "This Labyrinth may be… Provoking, but - I will not let it take you from me again."

"It - yeah. I know. Sorry. I just - I was scared." _(Scared? I'm not some little schoolgirl who needs to be rescued!)_ "Not scared. I was - I remembered the mushrooms. I panicked."

"Ah."

"But uh - thanks. Jareth." She added, the silence was too much and she was sure he could hear her pounding heart if he couldn't feel the heat radiating from her face. "Sorry. Um. Let's - let's go - I'll try to - figure out why it's - what it's doing."

"Done." He'd twisted her hair together and around it so that it lay over her right shoulder, away from her side of the shrubbery. "There."

"Oh." She blinked. _(See? He was fixing your hair. Nothing else. Nothing to get flustered over.)_

 _(I wasn't getting flustered! He was - being very liberal with my hair. And my face!)_

 _(He just helped save you. Blaming him for helping you isn't very hero-like, miss princess.)_

He took her hand again, twitching her a slight smile.

"Alrighty. Let's - do this." _(What? Stop talking. You don't talk like that. Just - silence.)_ His hand guided her forward into a passage that spiked right and continued to taper. Sarah shrank closer to him and glared at the bushes, waiting for them to jump-attack or ensnare her again.

"Sorry -" She muttered as she brushed into his shoulder.

"Nothing to apologize for." He looked straight ahead. "This Labyrinth gives us little choice in the matter, after all."

 _(So why did your smirk morph into a grin then?)_

She couldn't think about that right now. She needed to concentrate. "What is this Labyrinth?" Sarah questioned. "It's forcing us to…"

"Become closer?"

She heard the snicker in his voice. " _No_ , wiseowl, it's… It's forcing us towards something, right? As long as we choose the right path, we can move forward, and it's blocking us out of the rest, so…"

 _(So…)_

 _(Just think this through. Why. Why is it doing this. Or maybe that's not the right question. What kind of Labyrinth is this? Wonderland. I think. So if that's true, then what part of Wonderland is this from? You're missing something. It could be from Wonderland, but why would it repeat itse-)_

 _(ow!)_

Her hair had caught again. _(Shit. I should've have tied it up -)_ She hadn't been looking, and she reached back to brush it - now her sleeve was caught. He pulled her forward, not realizing, her shirt straining -

A ripping noise occurred. "Great." Sarah looked down at her shredded sleeve. Not that it mattered, the shirt was already ruined with blood and worse, but -

 _(What th- this was - this is a deep rip.)_

It was a jagged tear, at least a few inches up her arm. "What was that? What is this shit, barbed wire?" Sarah squinted, leaning forward. "… What _are_ you?"

This was what was bothering her. This wasn't a hedge. It wasn't a shrub. These were _leaves._

 _(Leaves that you found on plants. So, what kind of…? Come on, Williams…. See through this bullshit.)_

Sarah's left hand shook, but she forced down a shallow breath and reached forward. Carefully, very carefully.

"Sarah, wait -"

"No, look - there's something weird -"

He moved fast, batting down her questioning fingers with his own hand and reaching forward for her.

"Hey -!"

He ignored her, brushing past the leaves and - _there_.

Leaves wove around, trying get at his hand, to cover the hole he'd made, and Sarah yanked his wrist back instinctually as she remembered all the dangerous, pretty things Toby liked to reach for in his younger days. The stems strained, tangling at Jareth's fingers, then snapped back to their original form as they closed the hole in the foliage.

"What did you want to see? It's alive, not -"

"There!" Sarah pointed. "See it!?"

"What are you -"

"It's not a hedge Labyrinth!" She looked up at him. "Did you _see_ that?"

"See what?"

"This isn't a hedge. Because those are -" Sarah whacked at the leaves, brushing them up, fast. Now it was his turn to grab her hand, making a 'tch' noise and gripping it away from the wall. "See them!?"

He leaned over her shoulder, face next to hers as he peered into the wall of green.

"Buds. Which means these aren't bushes, they're… Flowers. Like - like roses. It's a… A rose Labyrinth?" Sarah breathed.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know… Yet. Let me think." She chewed her lip, the image of the snarling, alive, roping leaves and stems still playing in her mind, her skin beginning to crawl -

"This way." He slid his hands up to her shoulders and instantly the images of the bushes were dispersed from her mind. His fingers spanned partially up the sides of her throat, wrapping onto her collarbone.

"What are you -" She began, her sentence stuttering to a halt as words left her, and all she was aware of suddenly was his grip.

"Stay in front of me. The passage is narrower, and this place seems to react to touch a bit too much for my liking."

"You - don't have to do that!" Sarah felt like an idiot again, heat rushing up from where his fingers touched her neck. Her stomach and heart seemed to be working against her, doing those stupid, stupid leaping… Jolts. Holding hands was one thing but this -

"On the contrary, as you seem to keep getting _snagged,_ I'd prefer if you were to stay in front, where I can keep ahold and an eye on you…" His fingers gently found their hold, lightly flexing against her.

"… Fine." _(Fine. I can do this. It's just a - trust walk. Like I'm leading him. And he's following me.)_

 _(With his hands.)_

 _(JESUS CHRIST that is distracting!)_

 _(Shut up. I'm just going to - walk down this.)_ "How come _you_ aren't getting tangled!?"

"My hair is quite smooth." He chuckled into the top of her head, a warm breeze of a laughter permeating through her hair and what felt like her skull. She jumped, succeeding only in increasing his sniggering.

"Don't _do_ that!"

"My touch makes you as nervous as the roses, does it?"

"No - that's not what I said! I'm just -" _(Completely overwhelmed at you - whatever you're -)_

 _(This is ridiculous! Get it together! I held hands with him and I was ok, and I hugged him an hour ago, it didn't feel like this -)_

 _(Oh yes it did. You couldn't even think straight. You_ collapsed. _)_

 _(I was exhausted!)_

"- Tired." She said through gritted teeth. That little voice arguing against her was going to need to be eliminated soon, shut away if it kept mentioning things and questions she didn't want answered, and feelings she didn't want to think about, and -

 _(Feelings? I was referring to physical reactions, not_ feelings - _)_

 _(Oh, go rot in an oubliette.)_

"Stay close." His hands pulled her back towards him, and she thought she could feel his - presence, warmth, whatever it was radiating, like some kind of energetic field.

 _(Or maybe you're just over-thinking this with everything else. Be cool.)_ "I am close. Really close. In fact, maybe I could get a couple of feet inbetwee-"

His fingers grazed the sides of her throat and she fought back a spasm of nervous laughter.

 _(I'll never tickle-attack Toby again if I can just get through this without losing it.)_

"No." He said simply, steering her forward. "It's not safe."

Sarah grit her teeth, trying to think about anything. Anything but him, touching her, practically massaging with fingers that seem to be like spiders - _I said stop thinking about it!_ Just Labyrinth. _Labyrinth Labyrinth Labyrinth. Rosebuds Labyrinth rosebud Labyrinth -_

Rose.

She frowned as they stopped, his hands steeling on her suddenly and restraining her from moving forward.

Directly in the middle of the chaotic, sprawling path was a single rose, blooming from an unruly patch like some sort of decaying podium.

It was a pale white, contrasted against the darkness around it like a…

 _(A star, or a moth in the night, or -)_

"Sarah." Jareth's sharp tone brought her back, as well as his hands, which now gripping her. "Don't do that."

"What -"

He'd pinned her arms to her side, even as one of her hands was stretching forward, trying to -

 _(Trying to what? Why am I doing that?)_

She dropped her arm, staring at it like a phantom limb, which had been moving out towards the rose.

"You seem to have an inclination for flowers, which I have noted for the future, but I must remind you in this place _not_ to pick them."

"I wasn't going to - I didn't - and that's not true! When have I ever -" _(Red flower… I picked a red flower…)_ "You mean when I picked the poppy!?" She scrabbled his arms away. "I was high! And let's not forget you in the jewel orchard!"

 _"_ _Nevertheless._ " He moved his hands down to her wrists, lightly constricting them in his grip. "We should proceed with caution."

 _(I wasn't going to pick it! I just - it caught my eye…)_ She shot a glare at his hands as they moved forward towards the rose.

She waited to be ensnared by it somehow, the wave of opium or the spell or whatever it had been to come over her, for her hand to reach out again of its own accord, but the rose did nothing.

 _(It just looked… Interesting. What_ are _you? And why did I reach… Think… )_

A plain white rose is what it was, small and wild, perfectly even and blooming, silhouetted against the growth. Nothing was unique about it, except that…

 _(Except that it stands out against everything else. He's right - it is screaming 'pick me'. Just like the Orchard.)_

 _Pick me and figure out the secret… Pick me and end the Labyrinth… Pick me…_

"I'm not _going_ to…" She said, quietly. "But maybe… We _should_ pick it."

"Whatever makes you think that would be a wise conclusion?

"Well… This Labyrinth is forcing us onwards, and if it wants us to take the rose, it's not like it's going to let us get much further unless we do. But…"

He was silent. She glanced down the path that continued beyond the flower. "I guess… We could wait until I'm sure what this is from."

"Yes, I do happen to _suppose_ that might be better solution." He drawled, his fingers tightening on her as they came closer. Once they were past the rose he relaxed, moving his hands back up to her shoulders.

"I wasn't going to -" She protested.

"It wasn't _you_ I didn't trust, Sarah." He spoke quietly. "It's the Labyrinth. As you mentioned earlier, I had little to no control over my actions in the orchard, and therefore, I thought it wise…"

"Humph."

But she hadn't consciously reached out the first time, so she supposed he was right…

 _(Still. Be nice if I could be a little smarter than that.)_

 _(Ok, well if you want to beat it, work on being smarter about what this is… What it really is. A hedge maze with a white rose.)_

 _(A single white rose. Roses are in so many stories! Think think think. Stories about roses, roses and killer-alive-hedges…)_

She frowned in concentration, falling into a rhythmic walk as they moved, allowing him to twist her to the right or left. Sarah watched her feet, trying to remember everything. Roses symbolized beauty -

 _(Beauty and the Beast?)_

 _(There weren't any hedges in that, just a garden. Think.)_

 _(No, but inanimate objects came to life all the time in that. A hedge isn't that much of a stretch, is it?)_

 _(God, I have_ so _had it with plants trying to kill me in this place.)_

 _(And all the four elements, and mirrors, and -)_

 _(Ok, point taken. I've had it with everything trying to kill me. Fine.)_

Twisting left and right, the path went around and then straight, looping and then zigzagging back and forth, tight little twists of corners that were now less corners and more - the idea of corners. Rounded and sloppy, leaves sticking out at every angle and catching at her jeans, the Labyrinth looked like it was decaying in on itself, or as if someone had started to build it and then given up. And it was so _shallow_ now, narrower and narrower, her shoulders brushing up against leaves that seemed to reach out towards her. They went forward and then doubled around over and o-

"Sarah." He spoke quietly, just above her head this time, bringing her back.

The rose awaited them, 50 feet away.

"Wait a - what?" She narrowed her eyes.

Now it was red.

 _(Ok Williams, shit's getting real. A red rose and a white rose. This is it. This is where I come up with the answers, the…)_

Her mind was a void as she stared blankly ahead.

No, it was the opposite of the void, it had a thousand answers and none of them fit completely so she stood, paralyzed and overwhelmed.

"Shit." She breathed.

"What is it?"

She heard the frown in his voice without turning around. Not that she wanted to, she didn't want to turn and show him her face, one that was confused and frozen in what had to such an _obvious_ answer….

 _(An answer that I can't see when it's right in front of me! Red roses, white roses come on, stupid! I know this, I literally know this, it came from me!)_

 _(Also, some hero I am. It's Sarah, here to save the day, but also could I use a lifeline and call a friend or ask the audience? Even though I technically created it, so don't worry, I totally got this. I can save all of this.)_

She cleared her throat. "I… Don't know. This isn't…" _(Easy. Jareth, this isn't easy, and every fairy story I read seemed so easy, the hero went on a quest, followed their heart, and got friends along the way that helped them when it got tough.)_

 _(You've got him, haven't you?)_

She set her jaw. "We need to get closer, or - or keep going or something. I don't know. But I have some ideas. It's just - it could be so many different - my stupid brain decided to take the most vague and obscure things from everywhere and now I'm - _we're -_ stuck trying to decipher… What feels like the equivalent of braille Ikea instructions! I'm - I'm sorry, I don't -"

"I trust you, Sarah Williams."

His words hit her harder than his hands, his laugh in her hair, or the way he was holding onto her. Sarah's knees suddenly forgot how to move and she almost tripped over herself.

 _(What? Ow!)_ "Uhum. Uh." She coughed, trying to - trust in her? Great. "That might not be - thanks, but…"

Trust her? Oh sweet lord, that did _not_ make it better. That made it ten times worse. No pressure, Sarah, but you are kind of the Chosen One and the residing ruler-ish, not to mention the master architect/god/hero/dungeon master.

 _(But I, the great and powerful Goblin King, who can basically do anything, trust you.)_

 _(Trust me to what? Restore balance? Give him back his magic? Good God man, I can barely walk without tripping. Don't - don't do that.)_ "Not sure - I mean, I'm your best bet, I'll admit, but no good gambling on a limping horse if it's the only one in the race, Jareth. However…" She stopped herself from turning back to glance at the rose, not wanting to see the Labyrinth moving and closing up on itself. "A red rose and a white rose - roses are in a lot of stuff, they're…"

"Go on…" He said, gently pressing them onward.

"I -" Her sentence choked suddenly. "The walls -"

Were getting closer. Cramped, actually, was the word, and the leaves were now completely untamed. It hardly looked like walls anymore, it was closer to being trapped in some kind of thicket foliage that surrounded them on all sides. She glanced up at the sky, which some how seemed even -

further away…

 _(Like it's entombing us…)_

 _(No. Nope. Nope.)_

"Nevermind the walls." He said, but pulled her closer to him as he said it.

Buds had come forth from the passage now too, she noticed, barely hiding under leaves, hanging as if they were heavy, and there were -

Hundreds. It was hard to tell in the dark light, but the more she squinted the more she could make out -

 _(There'd better be roses in there, and not some sort of horrible pod people or some shit.)_

She swallowed, feeling hot, that cagey, confining warmth that itched through her, adrenaline peppering into -

 _(Into my concentration. Solve this before it gets bad. Think.)_

"Right." She took a shaky breath, clenching her fists to her side. "Roses. But specifically, red and white roses. Beauty and the Beast had a rose garden, but it wasn't - aggressive."

"What happened in the garden?" He murmured. She held onto his tone, his voice a hum at the back of her head. _(Keep your panic low, like a hum, like his voice. Think. Don't panic, think.)_

She could feel the leaves on her elbows as he guided her around through a messy corner. It looked chewed, dilapidated, as if the hedges had half-formed and then crumpled.

 _(Or as if they had stared growing and then stopped.)_

 _(Why wouldn't they - why are they collapsing? Why is it getting wilder? We must be getting closer. That's got to be it.)_

 _(To what? He said it was drawing us in, not letting us go towards the exit…)_

"The garden." She kept her eyes on the ground, trying not to look at the confining walls. "A man picked a rose for his daughter and a mighty beast came forth and attacked him. But…" She fought her voice, which becoming as tight as the passage felt. "But it was a bunch of roses in a garden, not a rose Labyrinth, and I don't think the colors were that specific either way. So, then - we have Snow White and Rose Red, two sisters who got their names from a rose tree, but all they battled was a horrible dwarf."

"Alas, I cannot summon Higgle at this moment."

Sarah slapped at his hand. "Be nice! _Hoggle_ is not horrible, and if he were here he'd help and - I thought he was a gnome."

"How he chooses to identify is beneath my concern." Jareth sniffed as they wound through a mass of tangled vines, the wall becoming concave and convex and -

 _(It's. MOVING.)_ She realized horribly, her stomach dropping. _(It's moving now, look at it, it's almost slithering and weaving and - why is it doing that, what is it doing, why is it moving - it's only supposed to move behind us, close behind us what is it doing -)_

Her voice was gone and she coughed, trying to remember how to breathe, how to form words, how to make anything that wasn't a choking silent scream as the walls twisted and shifted beside them, _breathing -_

 _(Think. Faster.)_

"Ok, so - so - so not that either. Tatterhood has flowers but that's not about roses. Roses are in the Snow Queen, but we've done that. A white rose could symbolize purity and innocence, a red one lust, love, passion, blood - um -"

A leaf brushed her hair and she shrank back, her words freezing in her throat. He slapped it away, now shifting his arm to fully interlock her shoulders, hugging her to him as they rounded a bend -

The same path stretched in front of them, and a wall of rose scent hit her, like a cold fog as she looked into the endless passage, one that twisted and shifted, constricting and expanding like a throat. A horrible throat, a tunnel into a Labyrinth that was going to swallow them whole. And roses.

A sea of them. They bloomed from every space, red and white and heterochromatic, bobbing on the surface of the hedges, even as the leaves beneath them slid and shifted.

" _Shit."_ Sarah wiped away the cold sweat on her forehead. She heard a growl, inhuman and dark, cascading up from him. "Not making it any less scary, Mr. Goblin King." She whispered, shivering.

"I have decided I do not, in fact, enjoy these hedges as much as I initially anticipated." His grip around her tightened. "Hold onto me."

It was a command, but one she followed without question, latching onto his arms that now held her in a sort of loose hug. The walls breathed, heaving silently.

"I - I'm going to have to pick the rose. Or at least touch one. It's not letting us move forward without it." She spoke in a dry whisper, her stomach a knot as her fingers dug into his arm. "Jareth." She said when he didn't respond.

"What could possibly make you think that's a sound idea." He grunted into her ear.

"Because it's not letting us get any further, is it? We're going in a giant circle, aren't we. Besides -" She narrowed her eyes, "There's only one thing I think this could be at this point, and that's… Wonderland. Again. But that's got to be it. Alice has to paint roses either red or white. It's something she does. I just - I don't know what's going to happen. But that's got to be it."

 _(I didn't think the stories were going to repeat themselves, but here we are, balls deep in roses. And that's got to be it. White and red roses, some of them half and half? Like they've been… Been half-painted, I guess. That's got to be it. And how am I gonna paint these? Bleed on the white ones? What about the reds? It was a white rose first, then red, maybe they're supposed to all turn red… What did Alice do, just pick up a bucket of random paint from the maze, right?)_

"What occurs after the painting?" He muttered darkly as they stood in front of the chasm.

"A psychopath queen orders her head to get cut off and Alice gets chased by cards, I think. So if that gives you any answers." Her flippancy was slipping out, nerves sparking on her tongue.

"My answer is that you shouldn't touch them."

"Jareth, I… I think I _have_ to. I mean, I have no idea how I'm gonna paint them, but - I'm going to have to try if we want to get out of here. And I really want that." She was squeezing his arms, her fingers cold with clammy sweat. "This one is making me claustrophobic, and -"

 _(And giving me a really, really bad feeling.)_

He reached, fast, snatching at leaves, and closed his hand around a rose, pulling it free.

Sarah froze. So did The Labyrinth.

"Jareth!" She grabbed at his hand, his name choking out of her lips. "You idiot! Why did you - _don't_ -" _(Don't touch them because I still don't know what this is. Don't get hurt, I can't help you, just - just give me one second -)_

Her heart skipped one beat, then two, then three, the blood felt like it was draining out of her into an abyss, replaced with a panic and dread that flowed through her, deadly and silent like the Labyrinth, like the still-frozen walls.

They waited.

He opened his hand as she pulled at his fingers, trying to get him to let go of the rose, to let go and put it back -

His hand was empty. No rose, no white, no red, no writhing leaves, no paint, just empty.

"Wh-" She stared, her fingers spreading his palm wide, but there was nothing.

"It's not real." He snapped his hand shut around hers. "They're enchanted."

 _(Not real. Not real. Not real.)_

The dull dread thumped against her ears as she tried to think, staring up at the bushes of -

no roses. Now they were gone. Vanished.

 _(Not real. Illusion. Like the mirrors. Think. A distraction, a trick. A trap. A -)_

'SKINT.'

Something shot out of the Labyrinth, whistling, Sarah felt it puncture the air around their hands, slicing through the stillness. A razor sharp spike, wooden and thin, _thin_ and _sharp_ , it glistened in the darkness, glittering cruelly against the nothingness. It was a fraction of an inch from their fingers - where their fingers had been.

Jareth had clutched their combined hands away from the spike, his arms curled around her, his expression unchanged, but his eyes trained on the bush.

The whole thing hadn't taken more than a second.

Sarah's body tried to catch up. Fake roses. Alive Labyrinth. Death spike. She couldn't seem to think anymore, just observing, watching. She stared, mesmerized, at the spike. It was almost a needle, a foot long, and so incredibly sharp.

He'd picked a rose. A rose. And then.

 _(What is that thing?)_

"Sarah, what are you doing?"

What was she doing? She was putting out her free hand, the one he wasn't holding, reaching towards the spike. This was stupid. Don't touch it.

Her hand moved, and suddenly she couldn't -

He grabbed it back as her finger barely shadowed it, a hiss escaping his mouth. The _thing_ moved at her touch, fell from the bush, imbedding itself in the ground.

He was saying something, scolding her, but she couldn't listen right now. Time slowed.

 _(I know what that is… What are you - what are you. Think.)_

She needed to see it, but her hands were captured. _(Think.)_ He'd picked a rose, the roses had vanished.

 _(It didn't want us to pick the roses. It wanted a distraction. To…)_

The spike had appeared.

 _The threat. Or the clue._

 _(That's a very sharp clue.)_

But he'd been too fast, had moved their hands out of the way, and now the threat was in the ground. It's shape… Looked familiar. It wasn't quite - right somehow. It wasn't - totally organic. Man… Made?

 _(What are you… I know you… I don't know but I know you…)_

 _Thorn?_

His voice threaded through, interrupting her thoughts. Berating her or something.

She started to mumble something to him in defense, twisting back around. "I needed to see what -"

Another spike shot out, straight from the wall, almost touching her between her eyes. She didn't have time to gasp, didn't consciously realize what was happening, just stopped, her heart pausing as she crossed her eyes, staring-

 _(Another one. From the wall.)_

 _(But I didn't pick any roses - I didn't -)_

There was a rushing of air and she looked forward.

Thorn-spike- _things_ erupted around them, shooting out from every direction. They were in front, they were behind, they shot from the hedges, and the air was whistling around them suddenly -

She was being moved, her feet recognizing what her brain couldn't; danger, a threat, one that was very real and very sharp as thin deadly spike-needles ejected around them. The walls that were tight and closed and so very very shallow were moving again, time was moving again, everything was moving but now it was too fast. Her vision was a blur of green, and then black as a spike ripped up like a spear from the wall. She felt him half-lifting, half-dragging her through, but there were too many, all around, spikes that seemed to bend through the air, searching for them in straight angles as the Labyrinth _warped_ sickeningly, the path changing in front of them now, splitting and closing, it wasn't a throat, it was a mouth, a contracting mouth with teeth that were sharper and faster than the air, and it was going to swallow them whole. Chew them with teeth that were faster than them, faster than they could ever be - she was yanked sideways, backwards, somehow he was moving her and all she could see was the rows of excruciating spikes -

 _Not spikes -_

\- a very dull voice said in the back of her mind.

 _(Then what?)_

She wasn't thinking, just realizing, seeing as he threw her over a rain of spear-like needles that exploded, writhing, trying to get at them -

 _(Threat. Bad threat. Wants to stab you.)_

 _(I don't know!)_

 _(Why. What. Which story.)_

 _(My stories, my story, what no one knew -)_

 _(Fake roses. Killer branches. Thorns.)_

 _(Thorns?)_

Thorns didn't look like that, at least not rose thorns.

They looked like arrows, or something she could impale and die on very easily. They were round, polished wood. Her legs wobbled as their path became a dead end; time slowed down again as he stopped, he was still saying something but she -

 _…_ _Old. This is a thing. An old thing._

 _(What is that thing? I've seen it… Roses… Thorns… Deadly wooden stabby shanks - what - what what what come on Williams - roses - come on -)_

 _(I don't - a deadly - it's a deadly wooden-rose-thorn-sword.)_

 _(Great. Thanks. That's_ exactly _what it's called, I bet.)_

No, she'd _seen_ this before. She knew it. It wasn't a sword, it wasn't a wand it was -

it was -

 _Old. Very old. They're -_

 _(I've seen them in -)_

 _(Rumpelstiltskin. It was in Rumpelstiltskin. It was a - a tool, it was a - I know -)_

 _(No one knew -)_

 _A spindle._

The spikes came from the air, pinning them, they punctured his cloak, whistled through her hair, next to her ears -

 _(But never piercing us. Why. We're at a dead end but how did we even get this far - we should have been stabbed -)_

A spindle that came from a rose bush, like a thorn, like a defense system. In a Labyrinth that was trapping them, forcing their hand, forcing their fate, their destiny beyond control, like a curse -

 _(a spindle that desperately wanted her to touch it - because - because -_

 _spindles and roses spindles and roses and…)_

 _(And…)_

Time sped up again, the spikes were surrounding them and she felt her body cramping from far away, as she was trapped between him and them. His arms were wrapping around her, his body hunched over, shielding her. They were going to die, he was going to be stabbed as he, Jareth, the great and powerful Goblin King, defended stupid silly _human_ Sarah Williams. He was going to die and he was going to lay there bleeding because of her stupid stories, alone from his kingdom, _in_ his kingdom -

 _(Fix this. Save him.)_

 _(spindles and roses and spindles and roses and curses…)_

 _(And…)_

"Oh…" Sarah breathed, knowing. She _knew._

 _(But what no one knew is that the King of Goblins had fallen in love with the girl -)_

 _(Well, he's an idiot for it. But so am I, for this.)_

She twisted in his arms, freeing one hand, just one, and rammed it as hard as she could into the closest spindle, impaling it deep into her skin.

Her arm went numb. And then the world went numb.

 _Oh…_

The ground came up to meet her rather quickly. She heard him call her name, and then he was there, he was holding her, the spindles were receding, retracting, but everything was still dark…

 _"_ _-rah! Sarah!"_

His tone was… Something. Scared? Desperate? Something…

She looked up into his eyes - the night and the stars - his eyes that were worried and protective and trying so hard, despite everything she'd done, everything he'd done he'd done for -

She wanted to reach out and tell him it was ok, but she couldn't seem to remember how to move. She needed to tell him what to do, that he didn't really need to worry. She needed to - he had to -

 _(That's right. Where are we? A story. I'm in a story. I'm in a fairy tale.)_

 _(I'm Sleeping Beauty.)_

"No… Shit… I'm going asleep…" She said it with a slurred horror. The numbness was spreading up her arm, down her legs. This wasn't like the poppies, this was - she was slipping and she couldn't stop. It wasn't a strong probability, she was going to fall asleep, she already was, and fast -

"What do I -" He was over her.

Her head was rolled back. "I can't fall… Asleep… For a hundred years… Toby… Time doesn't move the same… You… Reorder…" Sarah felt her heart racing but there was something heavy in it, squeezing, slowing it down from the inside. Her hand was warm, so warm, it felt like an ocean was pouring from it…

"Sarah -!"

 _(But I thought this would fix the Labyrinth, I thought this would work because - because this is what happens in Sleeping Beauty - she gets the spindle, and then…_

 _It didn't work? Why am I… Still… We should've beaten it, I should be awake, I should be… Did I get it wrong? No, because -)_

"Sleeping Beauty pricked… Her finger on a spindle… But she didn't die… She fell asleep for a hundred years…. Until… True love's…"

The numbness was weird. Oddly cold, slowing down her heartbeat and her breath. It was becoming quite hard to… To move, to think, to…. She needed to stop, just to stop for one second… She couldn't even feel his hands around her anymore, though she wanted to, she wanted to know that he was holding her, keeping her safe…

"Kiiiiiis…" She breathed out, and the world went dark.


	30. in Search of New Dreams

A/N: WhoOPs a bit behind schedule but HEre we go! Thank you for all the encouragement and praise of last week's chapter! WOW a lot of people really liked it and I was honored! Thank you so so much! ... Of course I'm pretty sure that means you'll hate this one because uhhhhhhhh cliffhangers/unresolved tension but AHAHAHA HERE WE GO YIKES ***twirls majestic cape, throws smokebomb, sprints/wheezes, trips on majestic cape, continues to limp at a high speed***

 **In Search of New Dreams**

And then Sarah woke up.

At first, she just stared at the blackness. There was the sound of wind and rain. She was cold, it dawned on her. And very uncomfortable, like she was lying on the ground.

She was. The carpet. She was lying on a carpet. Odd.

Hot, she also realized very quickly. Fingers were hot, hot _hot -_

" _Ow!"_ She rolled up, shaking out her hand, which was covered in wax from gripping a now-smoking candle. The candle. Why was she holding a candle? Why was she facefirst on the floor? Why was the window open, why did she have crystals and feathers and -

Why was she in her parent's bedroom, back home, _home home,_ like she'd never left. Like the spell hadn't… Like she'd never made it to the Lab-

"No… No no no." Sarah stood shakily. "This is just a dream. It's just a dream. I didn't fail. I didn't lose. Calm down. Calm -"

Her heart was racing very fast for it to be a dream. She was having a hard time breathing, for a dream.

"Shit fuck shit fuck _fuck!_ " Sarah stared at the carpet, leaves and blurred chalk lines embedded in the fibers along with the wax. The wind and rain swirled papers and feathers around the room.

"No. No, this is a dream. Wake up. Wake up! Or - or dissolve, or break apart, or -" She kicked the bed, hard. "I am not back here! I am not back - back -"

 _(How do I wake up? Pinch myself? Click my heels?)_

Sarah pinched her arm. Nothing. She grabbed the knife from the ground, pushing it into her hand -

Her perfect, unbandaged and unburned hand.

She swallowed, then resolutely pushed the knife down until it drew blood. " _OW!_ _Shit!"_

It hurt. It hurt a lot. _How else could you wake up?_

She grabbed Karen's laptop from the desk, searching it online. Results said pinching, scaring yourself, blinking…

"This is bullshit. These are useless!" _(What about - can't you force yourself to die and wake up? Scare yourself into waking up?)_

Dying…

Sarah looked out the window. She could jump, jump into the rain and the wind, but the fall wouldn't - probably wouldn't - kill her.

 _(Let's try some other options besides that first though.)_ "Jareth? Jareth? Can you hear me?"

The wind roared.

"Jareth!"

Nothing. Her heart pounded harder.

 _(I lost him -)_

 _(no I didn't lose him because I never left I never made it it was all -)_

 _(No, no Sarah. Do not buy into this. This is the dream. This is the trap.)_

 _(What about how you escaped the ballroom?)_

She hurled the deskchair into the wall. It bounced off, crashing to the floor.

 _(Shit.)_

 _(Think you idiot. THINK.)_

"Did I tell him how to get me out of the dream?" Sarah muttered, pacing in a circle, crunching objects, fists clenching and unclenching. "I think I did - I tried -"

Why hadn't it worked?

"It was a Sleeping Beauty Labyrinth, right? It had to be, controlling us, trying to trick us into picking the roses, and the thorns - I mean, the spindles… Briar Rose. It had to be that… And I - had to save him, so I stuck myself. Because… He couldn't know how to fix it, and that's how Sleeping Beauty does it. She pricks her finger and then she gets Prince Charming's kiss and… "

 _(That's why it didn't work. Because it's not about falling asleep, it's about beating the curse. No matter how much the Labyrinth wanted you to impale yourself, the way to beat it is…)_

 _A kiss._

"But… I told him that, didn't I? I tired, I tried to tell him… The story…"

 _(But would it work even if I did tell him?)_

Sleeping Beauty woke up when a prince found her after 100 years had passed, not immediately when she fell asleep.

And… He'd have to kiss her. That was the only way. Did she say 'kiss' out loud? Would he know the story if she hadn't… Hadn't been able to tell him before she'd passed out?

 _(Probably not. He didn't know any of the other stories.)_

 _(Would it have worked even if he had?)_

"What? Of course it would've worked. Sleeping Beauty sleeps, gets kissed, wakes up. That's how it goes. Once Upon A Time to The End."

 _(Really? True love's kiss is what woke Sleeping Beauty as I recall.)_

"Right, so…"

 _(So what you and he have is true love, is it?)_

Sarah paused, sinking onto the bed. How was she supposed to - there wasn't an answer to that. True love was… You didn't just _know_ and how would she -

He and she -

Her and Jareth -

"I don't…" _(That's not fair! I'm not here to answer… This isn't about that!)_

 _(It's_ only _about that. True love is the_ only _thing that will fix this.)_

"I don't know!" Sarah choked out. "He's an elf! And he kidnapped my brother! I have stockholm syndrome at worst, and at best we're… Maybe he - he probably - there's a million other - hot elves and mermaids and god knows what else out there besides me!"

 _(And what about you?)_

"This isn't _about_ me!" Now she shot up, pacing rapidly as dried sage crunched under her boots.

 _(It's all about you right now.)_

"HIS love has to be true, not mine! We had one dance! ONE!"

 _(Which both you and he have very strong memories about… An entire section of both your Labyrinths revolved around it, if you'll remember…)_

"Sleeping Beauty just woke up! That's all she did! She didn't - review candidates or anything!"

 _(But Sleeping Beauty fell in love upon waking. She accepted his love and that's how she -)_

"Then maybe I can consider true love and acceptance and him and our… Whatever - at a later time." Sarah muttered. "But I have to wake up first! Are there _any_ other options!?" _(Sleeping Beauty fell asleep and woke up by true love's kiss… If he can't figure that out maybe… Maybe I can kiss myself?)_

Stupid, but she didn't have any better ideas. Sarah tired kissing the back of her hand. Nothing.

Maybe it had to be on the lips… How was she going to -

Wait. The mirror. Her mirror. Her reflection.

Silver, ridiculously ornate, and beautiful. That would work. She sprinted out, down the hall and to her bedroom. There. Still and silent as ever. She looked at herself in the surface, then leaned forward, and kissed it.

Nothing.

"Fuck!" Sarah glared at her reflection. "You seemed to be a lot more lively back in the mirror maze, as I recall!"

 _(Still, it makes sense. Been doing a whole lot of self-love these past months, what with all the blame, and guilt, and the crippling depression and anxiety, no wonder you can't break your own curse -)_

 _(Ok. Ok. There's got to be something. Anything. Maybe the mirror will work now…)_

"Jareth? Goblins? Anyone?" Sarah felt herself stiffen, remembering the past year, the echoes of her memories, doing this over and over and - now. The current time. The current - the dream - or the not-dream - _(no, no, not now.)_ She put her hands on the surface. It was cool. "Come on… Please?"

Nothing again. She kicked the mirror in frustration, and it swung forward, hitting her in the head. "OW!" She stumbled, seeing stars.

"Really!?" She grabbed the top of it to push it back viciously with the same amount of force she'd received -

Something caught her eye. It was - the mirror. It looked normal, nothing out of place but… But she'd never looked at the top of the mirror up-close before. She'd seen them, of course, the decorations, the chromatic tree branches, the owl at the top, but she'd rolled her eyes and ignored it, not knowing if he'd given it to her or not. And pretending not to care either way. Besides, people came _out_ of the mirror, not the frame, not the ornate carvings that -

\- but now - there they were, silver tree branches winding together, just under the owl holding -

 _(What is that?)_ Sarah reached out, grabbing a small silver -

"An acorn?" _Yes._ It partly came off in her hands. _(An acorncap. Fine.)_

"Ok. Ok. Is this a clue? Yes. Sure. I'll use this to get out of here. How. What do I do. Please? Hello?" It didn't do anything. "Do I break you? Hold you to the mirror? Kiss you?" She stared at it, hard. "What do I -"

Sarah felt hot, tingly, thousands of pins and needles rushing her all at once, her hand, her face, her heart speeding up - and - and - and -

She opened her eyes.

Back in the Labyrinth.

"But - wha?" She slurred, blinking into a dim light grey sky. She turned her head, seeing the thick, carpety, green grass. No spikes, no roses, and stationary, unmoving hedges. "Wha did… What did I…" _(Don't bother. You're awake, aren't you?)_

 _(Well…)_ Sarah looked around, vision clearing slowly. No spindles meant no danger. "Bu-"

 _(Don't you dare! No questioning it! You're not there, you're here, you didn't lose, you beat it - somehow - anyhow - you're awake! So just get out of here!)_

She breathed out in relief. She didn't know what had happened; whatever it had been, she'd take it. Maybe it was her own kiss. Maybe it was the mirror. Maybe the acorn cap was a get-out-of-jail-free card. Maybe he'd heard her after all, and he'd -

"Jareth?"

He'd…

"Jareth?" She stood up, stumbling, her voice slurring, legs still numb, everything feeling… Slow.

 _(Where is he?)_

Had he wandered off? Gone to look for… Help? A cure? Something?

"Hello?"

It was quiet. Extremely quiet. What…

 _(Where is he?)_ Sarah held her breath. Any minute now, he was going to spring from around the corner, or step from the shadows, or at least call out her name, or, or,…

He didn't.

She turned the corner, but it was a dead end. Back the other way, but it was just an exit, an exit to a misty field -

 _(Maybe he left me in the Labyrinth and came out here to -)_

An empty field.

Why wasn't he…

"JARETH!" Sarah's drunken voice cracked into a scream. "JARETH!?"

 _(Why isn't he here? Why isn't he -_

 _…_ _Where did he go?)_

 _(How did he… Was this still the dream?)_

But it didn't feel like a dream. She felt too… Tired, too achey, like the drugs/spell from the spindle-thorns were wearing off. And why would she dream that? She wouldn't, she'd imagine feeling awake and alert. It felt too… And why would she wake up back in the Labyrinth? It made no sense. Spindles disguised as thorns were one thing, but this… Inception wasn't part of Sleeping Beauty.

Besides, the brave voice that had been confidently reassuring her that her house was a dream was now suddenly silent.

Her breath was shallow, she was clenching her fists, she -

The acorn. She was holding the acorn.

Her heart slowed.

But that wasn't possible, because it had just been a dream…

 _(A magical dream…. A magical dream that meant… Magic. Magic and Jareth and -)_

 _How much magic do you have left, realistically? She'd asked him. And he hadn't responded._

 _That's what I thought, she'd replied to his silence._

 _Silence…_

"But… But all it should've taken was a kiss! So why did he… Did he not understand…" She brushed her still-tingling fingers against her lips. They felt hot, but she felt hot, she felt panic, she felt scared. "Did he…" _(If he used his magic, to wake me up…)_ "Did it not work… Did he use… Did… "

 _(Oh god. How much did he - if he didn't hear me, if he didn't hear the story, or if it didn't - it couldn't work, and he couldn't wake me up, then - he wouldn't have - he didn't use -)_

 _"_ _JARETH!"_

Silence greeted her, the Labyrinth absorbing her plea.

"True love's kiss isn't… That shouldn't…"

 _(There's two options here, Williams: Either he didn't kiss you, and used magic to wake you up, which is quite likely. And something happened to him after that.)_

 _(Or…)_

 _(Or he kissed you and nothing happened, because it wasn't true love, it was never love or it was never true, so he_ had _to use magic to wake you up.)_

"That's - no, I mean… Maybe, but that's not - probably not what happened - I don't think…" Sarah's voice trailed out.

 _(Either way…)_

 _(He's gon-)_

 _"_ _Jareth?_ " She went back to the dead end, unthinking, driving her hands into the leaves, trying to feel for something, a new passage, perhaps his form, trapped within them, or another spindle, something that could help her get back -

Her fingers met with leaves. Cool, green, and totally ordinary leaves. _"Jareth? Jar-"_

Her voice broke.

Why? _Why is he gone? Where did he go? Even if he did use his magic, did he just disappear? Did the Labyrinth swallow him? Why did he…_

 _What… What do I do?_

Tears pressed against her eyes. Cold and hot, panic rushing through like icy lava, dread seeping into her like a humid and chilling mist. Her chest hitched against her breath as she struggled to breathe and not let out the sobs that wanted to cripple her.

 _(What can I do?)_

 _(Calm down he's left you before - in Wonderland, in the well, in the mushrooms, hell, you even let go of him in the mirrors -)_

 _(But… But he - I knew that he was still_ there _! He was always - he was gone, but I wasn't - I knew he was close by, that we were in the same vicinity, that we were - we could find each other, that we were in the same Labyrinth, and now - where is - why did he just - disappear - I can't find you if I don't know where you were -)_

 _(He used his magic. He used magic, he must've, I messed up the Labyrinth, I didn't solve it soon enough, or I didn't solve it right and he had to use magic and… And now he's…)_

 _He's…_

 _(Left me… Why did he leave… Again, not again, please not again…)_

"NO!" Sarah hurled at the walls, staggering, the leaves deadening her screams. "You said - you said we'd fix it! You _told me!_ "

 _(He's gone. I lost him.)_

 _(I'm lost.)_

The word hit her strangely, her mind not recognizing it. Lost? Lost wasn't… Right. She didn't get lost, she got separated from him, she got stranded, but she found a way back, she always -

 _'_ _always' -_

"I wish -" She forced out. "Jareth, I wish you were -"

Nothing.

"… Here…"

The panic squeezed her chest, cracking through logical thoughts, splintering them apart as she sank to the ground under the pressure. She stared, unseeing, at the leafy hedges and misty fields, both devoid and without answers.

 _(There's a way to get him back. There's got to be a way.)_

 _(There's a way to win. Isn't that what I told him earlier?)_

 _We'll win this? We'll solve it and you'll get your power back?_

 _Something like that, he'd replied._

 _(I said_ we. _And now I'm alone.)_

 _(How do I win this on my own? How? I can't, I don't know - what if -)_

 _(I can't stay here either.)_

 _(This isn't about me beating this. This is about me finding him.)_

 _(And I will.)  
_

"I will." She whispered, trying to calm herself down. "I will. I will. I _will._ I found you before and I found you again and I will find you - I will find you -"

 _(You have 13 hours to get back your Goblin King or he becomes part of this… Forever.)_

 _(Fuck you, Labyrinth. I'm getting him back. I have control over YOU. And_ you _have… No power over me. I want my Goblin King back!)_

 _(… My…)_

Her Labyrinth, her rules, her traveling companion. Her Goblin King.

He'd always been her Goblin King.

 _(What? That's not… True…)_

 _(If Ludo and Hoggle and Didymus are_ your _friends, and Toby is_ your _brother, and those are your possessives, then he is…)_

 _(A friend.)_ She thought stubbornly.

 _(He is your Goblin King. Yours. If he wasn't, why would you want him back? A kidnapper? A villain? You would fight tooth and nail, blood and sweat and tears, to return a common thief to your side?)_

 _(He's not…)_

She swallowed, faltering.

 _(He's… Not mine to… Claim.)_

 _(But -)_

She looked down. _(He's not anyone else's either. He wasn't supposed to be taken from me. He has been stolen from my side, like Toby. I fought for Toby. And now I'm fighting for… Him.)_

 _'_ _That which is rightfully mine will be returned… '_

 _'_ _Give me my King… Through dangers untold…'_

Why was she frozen, heart in her ears and every sound pressing against her? Her mind raced as she felt the anxiety, horrible and crushing as it blocked out the ground and what she was seeing and she couldn't think past it, her eyes unblinking and wide.

 _(He wasn't supposed to be taken from me.)_

 _(He wasn't supposed to leave.)_

 _(He's. Mine.)_

Rage.

She blinked. Rage? Rage. It clicked into place, slowly. It was under the panic, not a red anger, but a cold, seething fury, like steel, like flint. Rage at what?

 _(At taking what was mine.)_

 _(Jareth was the only thing I had in this goddamn mess. It took him from me, it separated us or it drained him of magic and vanished him away, this isn't how Sleeping Beauty goes and I don't know why I'm thinking this but all I know is that he. Is. Mine. And what's mine will be returned. Through dangers untold and hardships unumbered, I will find him. Or I will die trying. Mine.)_

It was a little word, but she was suddenly a little girl again, a base concept in her mind. Mine. Mine. Mine, and I want it back. Like a child, like Toby, like she'd been at 16, when she was possessive and spoke before she thought and _selfish._

Fury, cold, merciless, selfish fury. She could work with that. Fury could fuel her.

 _(So I guess he does have some kind of power over you, eh?)_ Piped up a small voice from the back of her mind. She envisioned throwing it into the bog.

 _(I'm mad. I need him back. I need to solve this. I want answers and I want my - my king, and I want to win. And I… I can. I'm mad enough that… I can.)_

 _(Let's go, Williams.)_

Sarah glanced down at the acorn, but it felt cold to the touch, refusing to open or do anything miracle or elf-summoning related, so after a few minutes of cursing and threatening she shoved it into her pocket, and took a few, deep breaths, pushing the tears down and away, forcing them back. There was no time for tears, she had to move, she had to go. She stood on unsteady legs, her body clamoring for rest, but turned and walked, slowly, to the empty mist-covered field, a bright grey all around. She stepped from the hedges and the Labyrinth sealed behind her as she went.

 _(Well that's still horrifying.)_

"I will find you, Jareth." Out loud, it didn't sound like a promise or a pledge. It sounded like a weak, little girl, who was lost and out of her element.

 _(I'm_ in _my element. I know this. I've studied this. I can save him on my own.)_

 _(My stories, my rules, my tropes, my cliches, and my hero. Me. I'm my own hero.)_

 _(And his? Can you be both, little hurt human who is trying not to sob, and feeling very weak and alone? That doesn't sound like a hero. That sounds like someone who dies, alone and afraid.)_

 _(I'll fucking re-define the genre, then. I have raw wrath.)_

 _(I've survived for longer on worse emotions.)_

Sarah walked ahead into the cold mist, her skin breaking out in goosebumps under the thin material of her shirt. The dewey grass thinned into -

A forest. Trees surrounded her.

"What -" She took a breath. Closed her eyes. Pinched her arm. Opened her eyes. Still a forest. "IF I STARTED OVER AND THIS WHOLE SHIT SHOW HAS BEEN A GIANT CIRCLE I SWEAR TO GOD-"

 _(As if god existed in a place like this)_ She thought bitterly.

Sarah took a very shaky, very shallow breath and started down the path.

It was different, she realized as soon as she stepped onto it. Good, that meant she wasn't at the start of the Labyrinth again. It was… She looked at it. It was solid, wooden slats, man-made, cut together to fit a perfect path.

The trees were different, too, now that she was closer. They… Caught the light weirdly. Although maybe it was her drugged-out state, her still-sleepy eyes, but they didn't look - right. She wanted to touch one, but they were all set back from the path, and every story ever warned of stepping off the path.

But the forest was… Dull, somehow. Too perfect, too blocky.

 _(Great. More fake plants. Better not be anything close to Sleeping Beauty or mushrooms.)_

 _(On second thought, something that I'm familiar with right off the bat wouldn't be unwelcome at this point.)_

Jareth's smirking face briefly flashed in mind.

 _(Something familiar like him?)_

 _(Shut up. I'm working on finding him. I will get him back.)_

 _(Familiar… He is familiar though, isn't he… Someone I known for what feels like for a very long time… Someone I used to know, I used to - just a few moments ago, when - before -)_

 _(I'm getting him back.)_

Her jaw hurt from clenching it. She didn't want to think about him, about his mismatched star-eyes or his smirk, his sometimes-nice laugh, because every time she did, an ache of something twinged in her chest, twisting. It was guilt, she thought. Guilt, because she'd lost him, again. Guilt, because she'd destroyed his magic and his home and now he was gone. Because she should've… Tried harder, worked faster, realized sooner, saved him, somehow…

She pushed it away. All she needed was fury and determination. Guilt, panic and crying weren't going to get her any closer. They were just going to wear her out, and she still felt exhausted from the thorn. _(Spindle. Whatever. The magical-sleeping-curse-thing that made him disappear.)_

The path continued around a corner, then up a slight hill. Sarah glared at the trees, waiting, but nothing exploded. The path didn't even diverge or try to trick her - it really was a path, not a Labyrinth…

 _(Maybe… Maybe the reason he's gone is because… This is the last level._

 _And I have to do it on my own. Like the first time. The way it's done.)_

She swallowed.

The first Labyrinth had been gigantic. It went up and down and if you went through it from beginning to end (which Sarah didn't believe was possible) it could take you months, if not years. It was huge. A mountain. No, a kingdom. That was excluding the underground passages, traps, swamps, forest and everything else that could get in your way. She'd basically hit every shortcut, and been lucky. Extremely lucky. Now she had no friends left, and they'd hit every trap, so her luck-streak must be out as well.

 _(I'm still alive, though.)_

Only just. Only because she knew these stories. She'd studied them, she'd memorized them… And she'd had him.

 _(Stop. Thinking. About him. I am getting him back.)_

She forced herself to stare into the trees. They really did look weird, like… Cardboard, or -

Sarah rounded the corner and gasped.


	31. Racing Against Time

**A/N:** AAWWWWW YEAAAAA WE'RE FINALLY HERE! THE END OF THIS STORY WILL BE ON OCTOBER 31ST AKA HALLOWEEN AKA THE HOLIDAY I ALWAYS ASSOCIATE LABYRINTH WITH! (also Xmas but uh yeah ok whatever Halloween more than Xmas) (also also I am *well* aware that the movie basically takes place in spring but you know what? Halloween. Movie. Final words I'll say on the subject no I will not accept notes). Anyways! Just a few more chapters! And a few more things:

\- totally meant to post this one October 1st. Did not get to wifi/computer access until October 2nd. Posted October 3rd bc you know what? Even numbers are unlucky and I am superstitious. Good news is as a result I'll post a double chapter this week *aggressive shrug*

\- the last few mazes (including this one) could be seen as kind of 'dragging' in terms of story pacing, and I understand that, but I don't care. I liked writing it and I edited what I could! I took my time in these last few mazes to logically make sense with Sarah's character development - Ice Queen is where she faces a truth and in the last few mazes she kinda starts to accept it, but it's also where it gets harder for her both physically and mentally (bc the rest were so easy? I don't know what I'm talking about. This is why no one asks for pretentious author views hahaha) (Also I saw the mazes in my head and knew I had to write them, length be damned. And this story has a lot to do with numbers so there needed to be this amount of mazes.) Thank you to those that stuck around and supported me! I realize that it is _very_ long and could, in fact, be called repetitious. But I had fun. And that's why I wrote it anyways, so… Yeah. Thank you for staying, supporting, and understanding, or at least accepting. Here we are. Final few.

\- speaking of followers... Holy crapoli 70+? Excuse me? Are you sure? THANKS. UH. GOOD LORD. THAT'S A LOT. YIEKS. Newcomers: Welcome! I like to uh... Drag things out and hurt my heroine! Pull up a chair! WE'RE IN THE END TIMES NOW MATEYS! Oldcomers: You've stuck around through thick and thin and seemingly meandering chapters. I thank you so much. Seriously. An ending is coming, I promise. I hope it's one that follows through.

 **Racing Against Time**

A castle stood before her. It was large and ornate, ridiculously decorated and detailed. And… _Carved._ It was _carved,_ layered wood, intricate designs etched into it, twisting vines and leaves that were shining and gleaming in rich dark browns. Gothic turrets and trim overlapped on every surface, bricks and columns and a chained drawbridge, imposing and dark, and all of it wooden and polished, the grain of it rippling through the walls. Even in the grey cloudy sky it caught the light, the frozen flags sculpted into a breeze that wasn't blowing, and Sarah half expected a trumpet fanfare.

She glanced nervously around at the forest, finally realizing what she was seeing - a forest of trees, _from_ trees, each of them carved to blocky perfection, each branch and leaf cut and hewn. And not a path, but… The ground, also carved, neat slats of oak and pine that led straight up to the drawbridge.

Her heart pounded in her ears, a roar as she stared at the monstrosity in front of her. Huge and dark and wooden and imposing, like a battle fortress.

 _(Ok. That's it. That's 100% the boss level. I'm supposed to go in that thing. And beat it.)_

 _(Or maybe he's - he's inside it somehow.)_

 _(No. This isn't… Quite his style. And I doubt… I know he wouldn't ditch me and chill ahead, anyways.)_

She glanced around, hesitating.

 _(Nothing to stop me, and I'm wasting time hesitating. Let's go rescue the Goblin King.)_

 _Time is short…_

Sarah took a breath and walked up the path, across the - the moat, she supposed, woodgrain that had been hewn to look like rippling water, each piece fitting together like a giant jigsaw. She tentatively put one foot onto the drawbridge, waiting, but nothing happened. The chains were _heavy_ as she dragged her hand lightly across them, barely moving at her touch, her fingers gliding on their smoothness.

 _(Not important. Let's go. Running out of time. Hurry up.)_

The door shone with varnish, an almost liquid-like surface, a mahogany so dark it was nearing the shade of black. Sarah reached out, the wood like thick glass under her hands, and pushed. It swung open too easily, too lightly.

She stared into a very… Fake courtyard. It was like a stage, every prop placed strategically and too - perfect. It was all shiny, everything was crafted and glossy, even the barrels looked like they'd been polished within an inch of their lives.

 _(What the…)_

It was like looking at an idea of what a castle _should_ be, batteries not included. Her teeth were on edge, the goosebumps on her arms returning as she scanned for any kind of opening that would lead to whatever danger this place offered.

Stairs. There. She went up carefully, placing her hand on the stone wall, which was - wood. Lacquered wood carved to look like stone. Of course it was. She sighed.

 _(It's all wood… What is this place? Paul Bunyan goes capitalist? This isn't a doll house, right? A giant hand isn't going to come scooping out of the sky? I've had enough with being too small or too tall…)_

But nothing came at her as she ran up the steps to the turrets. Sarah glanced around uneasily. _(Ok… I'm in, but… I'm not inside. This isn't even a maze yet. How do I get in?)_

 _(Is it going to be a Labyrinth? I mean… Jareth still had one maze left inside of his castle at the end…)_

She took a few steps forward, feet lightly tapping on the fake stone as she walked along, looking for anything, a trapdoor, a rope, another stair…

... Nothing.

 _(Is this some kind of twisted irony? Like I lose the Maze Master and now there's no more Labyrinth?)_

"I didn't lose him. And I'm going to get him back." She whispered.

There something ahead on the path. _(See? There. A clue. I'm doing fine.)_

It was… A very flat wooden arrow. No. Maybe… A spear? It didn't look like the spindles she'd just gone through… Sarah jogged up to it carefully, breath held, but nothing happened. She gingerly reached down and picked it up, looking at it in the cold light. It was a dark red-brown, and - something twitched to her right.

She screeched and dropped it with a clatter as she jumped back, cowering in front of - a clock. A huge clock with a twitching second hand. It wasn't a turret, it was clock tower, and she'd been so focused on the arrow object that the second hand had - it had caught the corner of her eye and twitched - Sarah let out a frustrated growl. She was on edge, but that was just stupid. Screaming at a clock? _(Come on now.)_

' _Ti- ti- ti-'_ Twitched the clock, unable to manage a final "ick". She glared at it.

"Ok, fine. First clue. There's a broken clock… Let's see, the minute hand is there, the second hand is there… Where's the hour hand?"

That must be… The flat arrow she'd dropped. She retrieved it, watching the clockface carefully.

"Please let this just fit back in because I don't have any tools." Sarah prayed to no one in particular. _(This is the start. Here we go. Sliding this on and a Labyrinth will appear before me, and a Jareth beyond that, and then I'll return the magic or pull the sword out of the stone or break the needle or some kind of shit…)_

The hand slid onto the gear. Nothing happened.

"What!? Did I - do you need to be wound, or…"

There wasn't any way to wind it, no key or knob, and there wasn't an entrance that she could see to do it from the inside. She spun the hands around and a tiny winding noise creaked to life from beyond the face of the clock.

"Oh! That did something! I… I think." Sarah looked around, but still nothing happened. "Maybe… You need to be reset. What time is it?"

 _(Well, my watch is long dead, so no ideas there. Let's just… Spin it until something happens. Seems about as legit as every other strategy I've had.)_

She twisted the hands to 2 o'clock, 3, 4, 7, 8…

"What do you want? I don't know the time. That's your job. What kind of challenge is this, anyways?"

10, 11, 12…

"Some kind of Cinderella midnight bullshit maybe? The wood-core edition?"

The clock stayed on 12 stubbornly, unmoving as the gear noise died. Sarah sighed, forcing the hand one more time. 12:58.

"I don't know what -" 1:00. Nothing. "You want… " She leaned against the face, trying to look at the numbers for clues. "This better not be some kind of math puzzle, 'cause I'm _way_ too tired to -"

The clock swung inward and Sarah pitched into darkness, screaming.

She hit something hard, walls perhaps, it felt like stairs or planks or shelves, but she knew that couldn't be it, because obviously it was a torture chamber. Had to be. A torture chamber just for her, just to extra-bruise her body beyond the damage she'd already done. It all made sense now, this Labyrinth wasn't there to trick her, it really _was_ there to kill her.

She crashed onto dark surfaces, falling off of them ledge by ledge, until finally she hit one last painful something, her movement jarring to a halt. She lay there, stars in front of her eyes, trying to remember how to move her limbs, assuming she had any whole ones left. Any remnants of sleepiness were gone as she ached, sprawled.

 _"…_ _Why."_ She wheezed. _(At least there's no way he would've done any better than me at that. You can't eat shit with grace.)_

Sarah tried to convince herself that she was dying, and that since that was the case standing and walking wouldn't be required. After a few moments of solid pain and no fading away into light or grim reapers, she forced herself reluctantly up to test her main joints, but nothing seemed to be life-damaging. Her nose was bleeding, but not hard. Mostly she just felt like a giant bruise, but she could move.

 _(Get up. Sorry, Williams, but we gotta move.)_ "Ok… Oh, god, Jareth, this better be worth it, I can't do that more than once… Christ…" Her nose dripped, and she wiped it gingerly. Plenty hurt, but nothing felt… Broken. "Alright. I'm up, I'm up. If that was the entrance… Then where the fuck am I?" _(And where is he?)_ She hobbled to her feet, limping down a small passage. Wooden, of course, and dark.

 _(Because a giant empty wood castle wasn't a good enough creep factor. Seriously, if the rest of this is falling through painful trapdoors, I'm not going to make it -)_

Stairs rose on her right. Sarah narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath, and limped to them slowly, trying to brace herself. The stairs went up and up, finally guiding her to a door, which opened into a -

a bathroom.

 _(… The fuck? What kind of weird-ass passage is this? Through a bathroom? A wooden bathroom? Really, brain? What story was this from?)_

There was nothing behind her but stairs, so… Sarah went in.

A carved wooden towel hung from a rung, a wooden sink and a wooden toilet. Beyond the toilet was a window.

 _(… Huh?)_

It was a window frame, actually. Sarah walked up to it, then after a moment, poked her head through. On the other side, stairs continued.

 _(O… K.)_

It slid up smoothly, and she angled herself, crawling through the window frame, managing to avoid falling through it. She was in a room this time, a room that was slightly brighter, a sort of reddish-gold tone illuminating the wood.

The stairs in front of her went down, splitting into a fork on a polished checkered floor. She moved down slowly, going right as they began to spiral, then abruptly stopped at a pole, which shot up into a continuing tunnel above her.

"What!? How am I supposed to - I can't climb that! … I guess this counts as a dead end…" Sarah frowned, turning back.

 _(Now a pole? In a wooden castle? A wooden castle with crazy illogical stairs and twists and_ bathrooms? _)_

A castle of optical illusions without the person that knew how to walk the Labyrinth was going to take long time… What if she got near the end and couldn't tell?

 _(I've beaten this before and I'll beat it again.)_

 _But time is short… I have to hurry…_

She went back up the stairs, her legs aching, retracing the small trail of blood her nose had left. This time down the left path, which evened into a small hallway, and soon she entered a wide room with a slanted ceiling that tilted down towards the opposite side. A ladder and a door stood at the opposing end.

"This is some house-of-blue-leaves garbage. If there's a fucking minotaur in here I swear -" Sarah grumbled as she walked towards it, ducking slightly and painfully as the ceiling angle increased. She reached the ladder, glancing up as it descended into a dark trapdoor.

"Hard pass." She breathed, taking a step back. No way she was going down that if she could avoid it. Fine. She'd just - she'd just try the door. Besides, falling down a dark painful tunnel again was not an option she wanted to explore.

Sarah placed an only slightly trembling hand onto the knob, twisting its slick cold surface. It swung open silently, and she peered, her heart in her ears, into - a library.

"Oh." Ok. This wasn't bad. She wandered in. The door clicked behind her. She whirled, rattling the handle, but it didn't budge. " _Shit."_

She should've paid attention. Should've remembered, should've been more -

 _(No, don't panic, it's fine. Maybe you're supposed to be stuck here. Maybe you need to solve this. This could be the way through!)_

Even her inner optimistic voice sounded fake.

She looked around. Books gleamed at her from all angles, covering the walls -

wait -

 _gleamed?_

Wood. Wooden books. A fake, wooden library.

Of course. Why had she expected differently?

Sarah sighed, going to look at the titles. They were illegible, some sort of weird lettering carved into them.

 _(If this is some kind of elfin-code-test, I'm about to lose. I didn't study much besides symbols, and I can't remember those enough to translate.)_

She looked around the room. There must be something else in the room for her solve. Did the Labyrinth continue from here? There wasn't a door besides the one that had locked behind her. Maybe the furniture - there was a chaise lounge, carved to look like fabric, a mantle, a desk…

Sarah sighed, turning to the walls. It definitely had to do with the books. Or wood. Or a castle. So… If she was locked in with books, she might as well start there.

 _(Besides, my best guess with the whole decor of this place_ so _far has been dollhouse.)_

 _(Unless there's some kind of wood fairy or elf I'm supposed to defeat, but from what I've read, they go for a much more organic tree-forest feel. Like a real forest. This place would be considered a crime to trees by most standards.)_

She ran her hand down a row of books, trying to pull some out. They were all sandwiched together. Or maybe they were just one giant carved block.

"I don't get it. Am I supposed to read the spines out loud, try to cast some kind of spell? That's a stretch." _(And I'd probably set this place on fire if I mispronounce it.)_

She continued onwards. There was some clue here, she could feel it, but - but -

But all the books were wood, none of them looked special or different. Dark tans, dark and light browns, bleached tones, mahogany, pine, cedar… Sarah massaged her nose, feeling pain and exhaustion creeping back.

"I don't… What is the answer here? Fairy tales _are_ books, there's not a lot of fairy tales _about_ books themselves… Especially fake wooden ones… And I have no idea what story or legend or Labyrinth or whatever this place is from… The first… The first thing I - _we_ did was books, all the fairy tales, but I'm already bleeding, it doesn't seem like I should repeat it, and there's nothing to write on…"

Maybe… Maybe she was supposed to find the _right_ fairy tale book. Ok. That was a thought. But nothing stood out. Just shelves and shelves of muted colors. From the ceiling to the floor, they just blended together into brown.

Sarah sighed, her bag falling beside her with a thump as she sat down on the chaise lounge. It was hard, and it hit her bruises, but sitting felt good. She closed her eyes, holding her forehead, willing the answer to surface through the fog that was her brain.

 _(Ok… Last Labyrinth…)_

 _(Probably)_

 _(It better be… Come on brain. Books. Book. Books.)_

 _(But that's all fairy tales are!)_

 _(Fine, that's all they are, but if I can't figure this out then I'll be trapped here/dead in an unreadable library without anyone to find me or rescue him and then -)_ She forced herself to breathe. _(In and out in and out in and -)_

 _(What… Was that?)_

She held her breath. _(Was that my heart, or was that…)_

No. That was definitely something. Sarah opened her eyes, tilting her head. There was a noise, a faint… Ticking.

 _(But… That can't be the clock from upstairs, right? I mean… I think I moved too far away.)_

 _(Do physics apply in this Labyrinth?)_

 _(Still, it's through a door and several passages, and I didn't notice it on the way here…)_

She stood, trying to locate it, moving towards the shelves. The noise got fainter.

 _(No, the other way.)_ Sarah went left.

 _'_ _Tick tock tick tock tick tock…'_

"Are you… Is this a clock-type of deal? Some kind of clock-clue-Labyrinth-thing?" Sarah breathed. She was close, the ticking still faint but persistent. "Please don't be up high…"

But it was… No, it was definitely lower. Sarah bent, groaning as her muscles twinged in protest. The noise was several shelves down, a few feet shorter than her…

A red book beat slowly as she placed a shaking hand on it. A red book with very particular gold and black designs…

"Fuck. Of course."

It was the book. _Her_ book. _The Labyrinth,_ it read. Sarah pulled, and it slipped out, falling heavily into her hands. It was still wood, but it was hers. A block of painted wood and solid, and… Unopening.

"How do you…" She flipped it over. A clock was embedded in the cover. "Ok… That's not what mine looked like. So now what?" She stared, waiting.

 _(Wait. It's not moving.)_

 _(That's what the clock upstairs did, too!)_

 _(Ok, it needs… This one has all the hands, so… Let's see, the first one didn't work until it was at 1:00 o'clock, so this one…)_

Sarah carefully moved the hands forward until it read 2:00.

Nothing happened.

"What!? Come on! I have an ungrateful Magical Monarch to rescue! I don't have time for this!" She knocked on the book with her knuckles, sighing in frustration when nothing happened. "Ok. The first one didn't open until I pressed down on it… Maybe…" But the clock refused to budged, no matter how she poked or prodded it.

"Argh." She shoved it back in the bookcase. "Be like that then, I -"

There was a creak. She froze, fingers still outstretched on the spine, and then there was a noise, a great heaving grind, like a machine ripping itself apart, and then even louder than that, a deafening cry, a scream that rang out. Sarah yelled, covering her ears, looking around to see -

The room splitting in half.

"What th- _shit!"_ The floor underneath began to disassemble, wooden planks sliding out from under her in a horribly coordinated speed. The impending grinding noise swelled, clinking of heavy metal on metal. She did the splits for a brief moment, arms flying wildly, then finally leaped towards the desk as it swung towards her, reeling through the air. She crashed into it, hard, grabbing for the other side as the breath was knocked from her body. The door twirled overhead, suspended, the room was ripping apart systematically and behind and below and all around it was a black mass of -

cogs. Gears. Screws and bolts and whirring teeth, pistons and spurs chewed and sparked, rearranging, reassembling around her. The desk spun horribly sideways and Sarah screamed, sliding with it, the planks of floor torn away from under her legs. There was just air, air and very physical gravity that threatened to pull her off the extremely smooth and slippery desk and into the horrible chewing noise emitted from the gears, which clattered under her as her feet swung out, close, so close -

She looked around desperately, for somewhere to leap, to grab onto. A staircase swung towards her, suspended by churning pistons, slamming into a door, which joined a wall, but it was far away, so far and Sarah didn't have the strength -

A bookcase sped by horizontally and she didn't think, she just let go, falling onto it, rolling and grabbing it, spread out and clinging to the shelves as it creaked, rotated, and finally slammed onto a floor, and the force of it shook her off but she landed on solid wood, solid -

It was a hallway.

Another inhuman scream and everything clicked into place.

Sarah tried to catch up her breath and the world. _(What… What just happened? What the fuck…)_ Her heart refused to calm down.

"How…"

 _(Ok. Walk through this. Use logic.)_

 _(Logic!? LOGIC!? Did your eyes see what just happened?!)_

 _(Walk it through. In a castle. Fell through a clock. Wood. Hallways. Steps. Impossible rooms. Library. Book. Clock. And then… The room reassembled.)_

 _(NONE OF THAT MAKES SENSE)_

"I… I did… Something." Her head spun, and her mouth tasted like tin. _(I'm alive, so that's something right, but good god…)_ "O- ok." She tried to sound it out. "I… Find a wooden clock, I wind it… The world falls apart into a giant screaming robot that beats me up… Yeah, I've read about that a _million_ times."

 _(Maybe in some kind of fucked-up mecha type thing! What the hell, brain!? Seriously!? Where did you get this from!? And_ why!? _)_

She waited a minute, trying to ground herself.

 _(As long as the ground doesn't fall out from under you again…)_

 _(As the world falls down… I'll be there for you…)_

 _Jareth._ She snapped her eyes open. _Time is short…_

 _(Get to him. Beat this.)_

She stood on very shaky legs, looking around. Another wooden hallway. The bookcase stuck out, alone. She walked, slowly, clinging to the walls.

"Is this… Going to come apart at the seams every time, or…" She whispered.

 _(Wait, no. You only fell into the tower when you fixed the first clock.)_

 _(And the room only came apart after you put together the second one, and it chimed…)_

 _So…_

"So fixing a clock opens a door or something? Ok, whatever. Just please god stick to those rules." _(Yeah that'll 100% work. This Labyrinth has done nothing but listen to you so far. Foolproof plan.)_

A door. Sarah gulped, trying the handle, and it opened into a solid wall.

"… Fine."

She continued down the hallway, which split. Going left led to a window in the wall. "Like the bathroom. Ok. Impossible Labyrinth. Doors and windows in toilets and robot libraries. Sure. Why not."

She let out a very tired sigh and opened it, pushing through and popping out into a closet. Well, a closet and a stove. The handle on the closet didn't turn, but a knob on the oven did, the door opening into a tiny passage, which led to a ladder, which went up into a trapdoor, which opened…

"What _is_ this place?" Sarah clambered through another window, reaching a dead end. She headed back to the ladder, hitting a skylight, walking across a piano, and then coming to a broad room.

And the first bookcase. Again.

She'd run out of dead ends, but the path wasn't changing.

"What?!" Sarah glared around. "How!?" She slammed the wooden books in frustration and her hand throbbed.

" _Ow!_ Fucking -"

The bookcase swung open.

"Oh." Sarah pushed it forward nervously, but the horrible grating noise wasn't beyond.

She walked into a room.

It was odd, like the rest of them, bits of furniture sticking out at askew angles. The bookcase swung shut behind her and she squinted into the browns.

"Ok. Ok. Locked door. So there's a clock in here, right? Those are the rules?" She closed her eyes, listening for the ticking, but there was nothing.

 _(Shit.)_ Of course it wasn't going to be that easy a second time around. She looked at the room. There was a table, a stairway that went straight into the ceiling, three windows, a bathtub, some carved pictures, a bowl of fruit…

"The second one was a book, so…" She took a few steps forward, faltering. _(But it wasn't just a book, it was MY book. So… Is there anything here that's_ mine? _)_

No. Nothing. She didn't recognize the pictures, the table… The bathtub was stuck vertically to a wall.

 _(The only thing that reminds me of is weird-ass art exhibits I've been to!)_

She tried the windows, but they were tiny and unopening.

The fruit, maybe. She picked up the roundish shapes, things that looked like apples or bananas or grapes, rough shapes that clattered but…

 _(Wait.)_ Sarah picked up an orange, it's wood gleaming with a golden-red hue polish. Or maybe it was a pomegranate. Or a… Wait. It was heavy. _Too_ heavy. She pressed down on the top and it popped open, splitting in half like a round pocketwatch.

"Found you!" Sarah grinned, reaching forward to push the hands towards -

wait. _Wait. The room's about to come apart if you do that. Maybe I should… Hold onto a chair or something._

 _(But… Remember how stuff twirled through the air last time? If the chair flips, I flip. Maybe the stairs. They have railing at least.)_

She walked over to the stairs, holding the fruit like a bomb, and wormed her free hand through, gripping onto the spokes for dear life. She took a breath, looking at the -

"Is… This a fucking peach?"

Silence. Sarah glared at the orange-red wood. _(Fine. Whatever. Let's go.)_

She turned the hands forward to 3:00.

Nothing happened.

"What!?"

The same as the first time, nothing occurring until - until she'd gotten so mad she'd shoved the book back into… Where it had come from.

Sarah winced, looking at the fruit bowl all the way across the room. Could she make it back to the stairs in time?

 _(I guess we'll have to see…)_

"Come on legs… I know you're sore but we gotta sprint…"

She walked back, counting. 20 steps. She held the peach above the fruit, her palms suddenly sweaty.

 _(Letting go in three… Two… One…)_

She dropped it into the bowl and started to run.

She tired to run, rather. More accurately, she started to limp at a fast pace, almost tripping over herself when the gears started again, and the _scream,_ she had forgotten how loud it was, the planks sliding apart in front of her. The stairs began to lift -

" _No! No you don't!"_

She jumped, landing and clawing herself around the bannister.

There was the scream again, that horrible sound ripping across the clanking metal as the room fell apart, the sound grinding and crushing, sparks flying in front of her and she bit back her own cry into her arm. A final inhuman yell rang out and the staircase went sideways until she was lying on top of the bannister, but she clung on, arms aching and finally she slammed into place as a third scream ended.

 _(Ok. Ok. I get this now. I don't know what fairy tale this is, or what this Labyrinth is doing, but I get it. Find the wooden clock, it breaks and reassembles with a horrible noise.)_

"Yeah, straight out of my favorite story." She wheezed. "The one where the hero dies, entombed in a wooden robot. A classic."

 _(Come on. You're not gonna die. I just have to find the next room. I got this. My Labyrinth, my rules. My…)_

 _(My Goblin King. Gotta find him.)_

Sarah stood, struggling to balance with her new forced gravity.

She tried to break into a light jog, failed, and settled back for a hurried limp. She was running down stairs and wriggling through arches, a window, a hollow bathtub, zigzagging up a ramp, ducking under selves until she came to a fourth door -

 _(This is it. I can tell.)_

Sarah pushed it open into…

A living room.

 _(This is the weirdest fucking living room I've seen ever.)_

There was a podium in one corner, an organ embedded in the ceiling. Part of the floor was a door, she noted, skirting around it carefully, in case it decided to fall open. But the rest of it was slightly living room-like, although everything was askew or at odd level, the coffee table sunken between a cupboard and a vertical sofa

"O… K. Let's find this… Cushions… Stools… An oven, sure, totally normal…" Sarah walked around quickly, picking up wooden poofs, pushing aside chairs and stools, which clattered but did nothing. She checked the cupboard and the armchairs, even shoved the hard wooden plants, but…

But there was nothing. She walked through it again. No clock. She closed her eyes, straining to hear. Still nothing.

"Ok… Book, fruit…" _(Book, peach…)_ There was no pattern. Sarah stood on a stool, surveying the room, trying not to panic. She'd been doing well.

 _(No, no, I'm still doing ok. Keep it together. It's here. It's here.)_

She hopped down, pushing the stool back to -

Her hand hovered over the carved surface. There was an owl hewn into the top of it.

 _(Aha! There! That's it. See, Williams, you just had to believe, and -)_

She lifted. No clock. She tried knocking it lightly against the counter.

"Come on! Come on… It's got to be the owl, right? Right!?"

 _(Do the other stools look like this?)_

She ran around the living room. They all had an animal, an owl, a cat, toad, dog, fox…

 _(Is it a spell? Do I have to arrange them, or…)_

"I'm not a fairy tale expert!" She yelled. _(Ok, that's not true. But…)_ "I'm… Well-versed but I can't remember everything!" _(Especially when I'm tired and beaten up and worried about…)_

 _(Worried, eh? About the great supreme sassiness?)_

 _(Yes. And shut it.)_

She dragged all the stools out together. There had to be a pattern. Cat. Owl. Toad. Dog. Fox. _(Bremen musicians?)_

But they had had a roster, and a donkey… She ran her hands over them. Cat, owl, toad -

 _(toad.)_

It's surface hummed lightly under her fingertips. Sarah grabbed it. _(Just slightly heavier than the rest and I didn't notice I was going too fast come on come on you son of a bitch -)_

She turned it over. _There._ The clock was on the underside of the seat.

 _(Mother. Fucker.)_ She flipped the hands to 4, slammed it back around the counter, and sprinted for the sink.

The room split and Sarah leapt into it, holding onto the faucet and gripping. She'd wanted to go to the stove but it was too far away now and she closed her eyes, making herself as small as she could while the sound grew and the world churned around her. She landed on the fourth scream, peeling herself out of the sink. It was part of a floor now, and it took her a second to get oriented but she moved.

 _(Go! Go! Come on!)_

She ran out, down a winding passage, weaving around chairs and sofas into a split dinning hall, through a series of sliding and hinged doors until she hit the last one, bursting into -

A hallway. The door rolled shut behind her.

 _(A hallway?)_ "But… The rest were… Rooms, so…" _(So don't question it. We're here now. Look around.)_

A toilet stuck out. A vase. A cupboard. Some wooden paintings. A chair. Sarah inspected each. After the stools, she trusted nothing.

"Ok, so first there was the book, then the fruit, then the stool… What's the connection?" She paused, thinking, and then lifted the toilet seat. Nothing. Of course. "Wooden Labyrinth book, Peach fruit, toad stool… Book, fruit, toad stool -" Sarah froze.

 _(No… No, wait. No. No way.)_

"Toad… Stool. A toadstool. A toadstool? Can that be… A mushroom…" Her voice dropped to a whisper.

 _How had they solved the Labyrinths?_

 _She'd written on the books, picked the right fruit, cut through the mushrooms… Could that be it? Could it be that easy? That symbolic?_

But she hadn't solved the Labyrinth with a mushroom, that had been the challenge itself, so…

 _(It's what the Labyrinths were. Ok, maybe. Why not.)_

Sarah glared.


	32. Thirteen Hours

**A/N:** Only a few left now! I think I re-examined the math and I CAN evenly space this out now! So: as always, thank you for the follows and kind words! I am a bit nervous to read reviews bc I am almost done with this thing! I CANNOT CHANGE ANYTHING OR ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS BECAUSE WE ARE ALMOST DONE! LOCKED AND LOADED! BUT THANK YOU FOR WRITING! I still enjoy reading all of them! ALSO I did more notes at the end of this chapter bc I didn't wanna do """"Spoilers""" (can they be spoilers if it's original content? Yes? dunno) 

**Thirteen Hours**

 _(It's what the Labyrinths were. Ok, maybe. Why not.)_

"What was next? What was next? What's the clue!?" Sarah looked around desperately. "It was… We got out of the forest, into the water, and… And… Was it the well? Or…"

 _(No - wait - before the well there was -)_

"A mirror…" Sarah raced to the painting frames. A carved landscape. Carved picture of a bird. A framed -

"You!" Sarah grabbed it. It was a flat piece of wood in a frame. Not a mirror, but it was highly polished, and she didn't have time to argue the logistics in a castle of wood. She felt along the edges, her fingertips searching, nails digging in until she hit a knob, and it slid in. The entire thing popped open like a picture safe, to reveal…

"Aha!"

A very flat clock. She spun the hands to 5 and the room began to split, the horrible note and grinding starting up. Sarah looked around, realizing in a panic that there was nothing to hold onto, that the toilet was already reeling away -

 _(Nothing, nothing, there's nothing I'm going to fall -)_

She grabbed onto the protruding edge of the frame with a cry as the floor disassembled, her hands spiking with pain as she clung, half-praying the frame wouldn't break under her weight, half-praying she could hold her own, and she swung her legs up, trying to hold them out of the gears -

"I don't have the muscle for this!" Sarah yelled as she flew in the thundering darkness, the mirror pulled away by some kind of lever, but she was unable to grip, her legs slowly sinking down, her fingers already loosening, the surface was so damn smooth -

A fifth scream sounded out and the mirror connected into another wall, creating a new structure but the impact rippled through her already sliding hands and she fell off, a cry escaping her into the darkness, fingers scratching fruitlessly -

She hit new wood, hard, teetering on the edge of a not-yet built room, her arms flipping back into space, space and the deadly crunch of the metal -

Something clicked and the hallway came together to meet her, around her.

Sarah gasped and fell to the ground, her legs shaking.

 _(Too close, too fucking close. Not again. I don't have the strength for that again. I will fall and it might not be into a room.)_

She took a brief moment, trying to steady her shaking, then crawled to her feet, looking around into chaos, choosing to go through an archway, down a hall of objects and stairs that sank into the ground, archways with chairs and tables, vases and lamps, bookcases and dead ends and -

Sarah wriggled through a fireplace and into a room. Here. It was here. Sure enough, the fireplace closed behind her, a grate sliding down into place.

 _(Ok_. _)_

She leaned over, clutching at a stitch in her side; despite her stiff muscles and slight limp she was still pushing, trying to go faster, and she was paying the price in her breath. "We… Did the books, the… Fruit, mushrooms, mirrors, the… Well…"

 _(Water. Look for water.)_

 _(There's no water in a wooden Labyrinth.)_

"So, like… We solved it… I used… Money. Coins? Or… Maybe like… Water, so a sink, or… Or - you!" She grabbed a pitcher. Nothing. She set it down. There was a glass next to it. "Please? _Yes!"_

There, on the bottom of the glass, a flat clock. Sarah turned it to six, then sprinted back the fireplace, bracing herself inside of it like some amateur contortionist.

It proved to be sturdy, even when it turned upside down and Sarah yelped, her bag thudding around her shoulders, but she didn't fall, remaining secure in the clattering darkness and screams. The world turned rightside up after a few dizzying moments, and when she landed, she almost regretted getting out of it.

 _(Right.)_ She'd took a breath, counting on her fingers. _(If the first clock was the first clock I had to wind, and then the books were the first Labyrinth, then that makes this… The seventh. And then this - the castle itself - is the… The twelfth Labyrinth.)_

12 _._ It made sense. 12 tasks of Hercules, 12 dancing princesses… _(12 numbers on a clock… Ok.)_

 _(I still don't get the wood theme, though… Even the Trojan horse didn't have all the machinery…)_

 _(Whatever. Time to move.)_

 _Time is short…_

She stood, traipsing through up through a trapdoor, walking on a line of sofas and tables, zigzagging staircases that crossed over each other, finally jumping over some gates - _(that's fun) -_ and went down a twisting hallway of ramps and ladders into a long, long closet that stretched as she cramped herself through it, opening to a -

lamppost. A lamppost sitting in the middle of in a wide room. She skirted around it, looking across. The room had a desk, a lamp, a chandelier, a chair, a picture -

"The well… What happened after… " She thought back to the cold, rushing darkness, to being lost -

 _(Lost, but I found him again.)_

"The well… Became the ice crystals and we broke it by - by the crystal! Putting together the crystal… Which is -" Sarah spun in the cramped area. "Ice. Or crystals, or an orb, or… Some kind of memory…"

Her eyes dragged over the objects: desk, lamp, chair, picture…

"Picture could be a memory…" She muttered, grabbing it. Nothing. It wasn't heavy enough, anyways. _(Come on… Orb, crystal… What else… I cried a lot… Orb, crystal, ice…)_

Crystal, orb, ice…

She looked up, at the chandelier, wooden and high, and… Crystalline. Wooden, but carved to be-

"The chandelier! It has to be!" She grabbed the chair, standing unsteadily on it, and looked, looked for -

It was tiny, embedded in the framework, but Sarah used her fingertips, flipping the hands to seven and latching on with her elbows and arms, weaving into the wooden jewel strands. This time she was swung out in large, arcing spirals, the chandelier dipping and swinging. She closed her eyes, envisioning fusing into the clattering wooden crystals, curling her tired legs up as much as possible, muscles on fire.

 _(First scream, god I wish it would stop, what is that noise, second scream… Third… Fourth… Fifth… Six… Seventh!)_

The world clicked back into place.

"The travel time is taking longer with each one." She muttered breathlessly, trying to remember which direction to fall in.

 _(Seven notes and seven o'clock on the seventh challenge… It's going in time with each clock. Fuck me. Wait till I hit 12.)_

 _Hurry up hurry up time is short…_

She dismantled out of the creaking chandelier, stumbling back up and racing through spiral stairs and up slanted floors, down a passage of windows and frames, which became a dead end. She turned around, this time going into a tiny closet, then several windows, a spiral staircase, and under a sink until she reached a carved alcove.

Sara stopped, wheezing. There had to be something - she ran her fingers up it, tracing, eyes narrowed and then she closed them, feeling -

one indented tile caught her touch. She punched it triumphantly and the whole thing receded in, opening into a room. A small hall continued after it, with a desk, a sofa, a wooden refrigerator, and half of a tiled awning coming down from the ceiling.

"Ok, ok… Flowers. Poppies." There was a vase with flowers on the desk. She emptied it, flipping them over until she found the one, a clock at the center of the petals. Sarah paused, glancing back - there was a water pump further down the corridor. It would have to do. Winding the flower, she spun the petals around and shoved it back into the vase before sprinting off, barely reaching the pump in time, wrapping as much of herself around it as she could. She flipped and fell through space and time, it was never-ending and her arms were tired, her legs were beyond tired, and god, falling sounded terrible but at least it would mean her arms not burning…

 _(No, come on, you've got to find him hurry up hurry up)_

 _(Five. Six… This is taking forever holy shitballs ow ow ow… Seven faster faster come on you bitch… Eight!)_

She dropped, limp, onto some kind of hard slick surface. A bench.

"Ow."

But she didn't have time for pain, didn't have time for rest, he needed her and she… She ran, fast, trying to outrun her hurt, her bruises, trying to out-think her limp limbs and tired, tired, body. She crawled through a trapdoor, reaching a little flat room, filled with shelves and a dresser. She panted, the stitch in her side deepening.

"Fuck… Rumple was next… I think… So… Straw… There's nothing… Straw here…" She crouched, looking on the ground. "What… Would work? A spindle?… A… Nametag?… Gold…?"

 _(Gold. Gold would fucking work. But there's nothing gold in here. It's just wood, it's all wood, it's -)_

 _Time is short time is short time is -_

Sarah lurched upward, dragging herself forward, peering at shelves, under them, knocking and scraping, her fingers demanding an answer. Nothing, but -

The top one. She jumped, latching on, barely making it -

"Wait! C'mere, you!" Sarah growled, grabbing on the top shelf, feeling for - there. There was something, something round. She snatched, blindly. Wooden coins showered down onto her head.

And on the back of one of them, a tiny clock.

"Good enough." She wound it, throwing it back onto the top with a clatter, and crawled between shelves, wedging her body. It was getting harder to grab onto secure objects but she was too far away from anything else and the room didn't offering something better.

"Please don't kill me."

The wall tipped backwards as the screech rang out and Sarah slid deeper into the shelves - but then in a dizzying tilt it teetered; reversed - and finally flipped forward as she screamed, her hands slipping off the smooth wood, no longer held in by gravity or muscle.

She fell forward and out, into the black, into the - not the nothing, the opposite of nothing, too many gears and twisting grinding churning metal, metal that would crush and eat her -

Something slid out of the darkness, it was slippery and smooth, it caught her, the air shooting out of her in a jolt, and she landed. Landed painfully on top of something, it was large and flat, maybe a table, but her leg twisted under her, her body going against itself, throwing her balance, a painful grunt escaping her lips. She swayed dangerously before falling into a crouch, leg crumpling under her, and she reached, blind, trying to grab ahold of - nothing, just polished wood, endless wood in unending metal darkness. She spun, once, twice, the arcs throwing her off each time, she was going to fall off her surface, tilt away and then nothing would be under her except cogs and pistons and -

she slammed into solidity, into another room as it pieced itself together, thrown from her perch, landing hard onto a floor.

Sarah skidded to a stop, crumpled and fighting back tears of exhaustion and pain. She gave herself a long minute.

 _(Just a few more… Just a few more… Just have to find… Wonderland… Then Sleeping Beauty… Then done…)_

 _(How much more can I fall? How much longer until I don't land on a table and I hit my head or I don't hit anything, I just fall, fall into that machinery…)_

 _(No, come on… Wonderland… Sleeping Beauty…. Please… Just a little further…)_

She slowly rolled to her side, clinging to a nearby chair to hoist herself up -

 _"_ _Ow!"_

\- only to clutch at her leg, which suddenly flared up in agony and almost buckled out from under her. She cried out as needle-like pain spiked up her limb, collapsing against the chair.

"Ah, _fuck_ me!"

 _(Shit. Shit. What did I do? Twist it? Wear it out? Fuck. That hurts that really hurts goddamn it!)_

The tears flowed silently as she attempted to rotate her foot, trying to think. She had one good leg and 2 more clocks to find in a Labyrinth that required parkour-navigating the equivalent of an IKEA on crack. She could technically move, but she was having trouble standing, let alone walking.

 _(Ok… Ok, pretend it's not that bad… Just a - a bit of a light sprain or something.)_

 _(It's goddamned twisted and you know it.)_

 _(Fine. A light twist, then. It's not going to stop me. Two more clocks. I - I can handle a slight twist for two more clocks.)_

She forced herself up on her good leg, dragging herself down the hallway, now using the oddly-placed architecture and furniture as crutches, pulling herself forward, a ragged scream wheezing out from her.

 _(Stupid machine. Stupid gravity. Stupid weak hands. Stupid fucking everything. I only had two more left… Come on…)_

 _Time is short time is -_

She was slow. She was so slow. She hit a ladder and it took forever, eternity and a gallon of sweat as she hauled herself up, stopping periodically because when her leg wasn't hurting it was her arms, muscles crying in protest as she pulled herself, using all her weight. Sarah finally reached the top, gasping, collapsing onto the floor. After another long moment she rolled to the next door, pulling herself up by the doorknob. It opened into a room, clicking behind her as it swung shut.

 _"_ _Ohthankyougod."_ She whisper-sobbed, and crawled further in, taking a moment to breathe as she wiped her forehead. It felt clammy to the touch. Not good. It wasn't going to be long before she was shaking. She wanted a rest. She wanted…

"She wanted to finish the fucking Labyrinth." Sarah growled out loud, heaving herself up a desk to scrutinize the -

The kitchen-like area. Rolling pin. Towels. Plates. Table. A pew. Ok. Close enough.

"Wonderland. It was Wonderland. It was… There." She pushed herself off the desk, falling into a cabinet, shoving her weight towards a tan-colored cake. It was on a cupboard, a shelf that was _just_ out of her reach.

"I get it. If only I were taller, right? Fuck you." She let out another growl, this time mixed with pain as she hoisted herself up a counter, then rose, hopping with her good leg, her bad one dangling uselessly. She could feel the sweat straining out on her forehead as she reached the cake, and the clock embedded in with the wooden frosting. "10, motherfucker."

The kitchen ripped apart and she stood on the counter, looking for something to grab onto and hold, anything, she didn't have time to run with her leg and the screams were ringing out -

 _One…_ A chair soared above her and she latched on, swaying dangerously. Her fingers felt numb.

 _(Come on, hang on, just a second, no matter how bad your arms hurt it's not worth letting go, remember what happened last time - the pain in your leg is worse, come on - two…)_

She whipped through the air, moving in the blackness, but she couldn't hang on for long, couldn't control her grip and hold her legs away from dangling and suddenly - _three -_

Sarah _connected_ into something and she paused, and then _gasped._

The pain made her inhale, it wasn't dull and throbbing with her ankle, it sharp and hard, and it sliced into her with a horrible warmth. She gripped the chair harder, seeing blackness, blackness and pain and she screamed, long and agonizing and blending with the more inhuman, louder screech that was all around her as the world came back together -

She landed, a fresh stab going through her bad leg, blinking hard, trying to lose the blackness from her eyes. She'd hit something, something sharp, but the darkness wasn't leaving her vision and she couldn't see what - she shook her head, but then she was dizzy and dark -

 _(No. No. Not passing out. I have one more clock. No no no. Time is short but I still have it I still have some I'm not done yet - come on -)_

 _(there was something I was looking for…)_

She got up, or what she thought was up - the world was suddenly very tipsy, very unsteady, and she fell into something drunkly - a wall. A solid wall, and she ran her hands across it, trying to find her way back to gravity. A wall, and she leaned, blinking, forcing thin breath after breath down. The pain wanted her to stop, wanted her to collapse and she very much wanted to agree with it, to fall and not stop falling, but there was something - something she needed to remember, to do - and it was -

 _(I can't remember but ow ow is it - black spots - fading - I can't stay clear - )_

 _(No. You stay here, Williams. You stay in the pain. You don't get to run away, you hold onto it here and you remember -)_

She would've cried but that was effort, tears were a luxury and so was breathing as she forced air down, the world black and then grey and then -

her vision began clearing slightly, and Sarah managed to look back, look around, at the walls and the new layout and…

Blood. Hers. On the wall, on the floor.

 _(Ah, fuck.)_

She bit her lip, glancing down at her side. It was darkening.

 _(Shit. What did I do?)_

 _(Hurts. I hurt it. I remember. I remember - Jareth - I have to find Jareth, I promised -)_

 _(Promised he'd heal me -)_

 _(me mine mine mine -)_

 _(It's… Hard to think - what should I do…)_

 _(Bandage it obviously.)_

 _(But then what?)_

Her useless unfeeling fingers scrabbled at her hand bandages, his once long-ago shirt -

 _(Jareth's shirt. His sleeve.)_

Sarah's eyes welled with fresh tears, filled with exhaustion and pain and now desperation. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to solve this, she should be back with him already, saving him and helping the Labyrinth, and here she was, the hero, the knight in shining armor, one good leg and one good side, with the energy of -

 _(Come on, stop whining.)_

She shook her head, but that made it worse, causing her to sway again with a fresh wave of dizziness, suddenly reeling. She felt like puking.

 _(No. Not again.)_

"I… AM going to… Beat you… Labyrinth." Sarah spoke, words slurring as she fought the darkness at the edge of her vision. "You… Don't win. I win… You. You don't keep him. I do… Mine."

 _(How much more can I say that? Time is short, how many more times can I survive to say that…)_

 _(For my will is as strong… My kingdom as great…)_

"My kingdom is… Trying to kill me." She wheezed, pulling the strip of his shirt around herself as tight as she could. It wasn't much, but she only had one more clock, and as painful as it was, it didn't seem _deep…_

 _(She told herself, cheerfully, just before she passed out.)_

 _(Shut up, voice. I thought I had you bogged.)_

 _(I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Labyrinth to take back the child-like king you have stolen.)_

 _(Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I will find him. I will end this. Or I will die trying)_

"Getting pretty close on… That last scenario." She mumbled, finishing the knot clumsily.

Sarah pulled herself along, breathing in shallow, wheezy breaths. There was only one staircase here, and she didn't walk so much down it as slide along the bannister, reaching an archway, and then…

A door.

"Ok. Let's go. Sleeping Beauty, please." Her voice sounded far away, and scratchy. She went in. There was a bed.

"You. It's - I know it's you." She fell on top of it, groaning as the hard wood met her bruised body. Her hands felt the carved covers, pushing off wooden pillows. There wasn't a clock. She sobbed out in exasperation, staring at -

there was a rose in the headboard.

"You… Fuck." Sarah rotated it away, a carved cover for the cock, and hit the numbers. The room began to spin. She dragged herself to a bedpost, waiting. The horrible noise sounded, and the bed soared through the air.

 _One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven… Eight… Nine… Ten… Eleven…_

And then everything stopped. Sarah looked out into the glinting darkness.

She was surrounded by gears, whirling in place, spinning and dancing and moving, but not past her.

Everything was frozen.

Time was stopped.

"What…" The dark metal caught the light oddly, only illuminating the edges. A chair was frozen above her.

 _(Shit.)_

 _(What did I do?)_

 _(I did the clocks, I did all of them, each of the Labyrinths, 1 through -_

 _through 12.)_

"This is the 12th one, isn't it." Sarah breathed in the darkness and sudden silence.

 _(It's not a complete silence.)_ She pulled herself higher up the bed, looking for something in the sparkling black, anything -

' _Tick tick tick tick tick tick'_

In the distance, glowing and ticking, was a clockface.

It was wedged in the gears - no. It _was_ the gears. Sarah squinted at it, trying to understand.

"You're not… The gears are connected… So… This is all… Is this _all_ a clock? A giant… Wooden… Clock." Sarah looked out at it. "But that's not a fairy tale, that's not a…"

 _(It's not a fairy tale. It's a time limit.)_

 _(The last Labyrinth is a clock. A clock running out of time, in a giant, perfect, fairy-tale castle, where you have to use everything, every clue you've learned on the past journey. )_

 _(But why is it wooden? A giant timepiece in a wooden castle? That's not a thing…)_

 _(A clock in a wooden castle… Why not an hourglass or a sundial, or…)_

It wasn't just a clock, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, it was a clock surrounded by gears and pieces of frozen furniture, but on top was an… Owl. A wooden, mechanical owl, its mouth opened, wings spread, as if silenced in mid-screech. Mid-scream.

 _(Was that the thing making that horrible noise? Instead of a chime, a scream, like some sort of demented…)_

 _(Coocoo clock?)_

 _(Oh my god that's so not fair.)_

 _(I gave myself a wooden coocoo clock castle!? How the fuck am I supposed to be able to guess that?! That's not a fairy tale! That's not -)_

 _(The enchantment ended at 12… Cinderella's ball expired… Spells are shattered, the 12 dancing princesses returned… 12 tasks of Hercules, working around the clock to beat monsters… You have 12 hours before your brother becomes one of us… Time is short…)_

 _(Time. It was all about time. A giant timer. Fuck my twisted logic.)_

 _(And… And now what?)_

The clockface loomed ahead in the darkness. Small and glowing, beckoning her.

"Fine. But how do I get to - there's no path -"

She swallowed. That wasn't right; there _was_ a path to the clock. It involved jumping off the bed, onto the slippery, shiny, metal gears. In the dark. They were large, they looked sturdy enough to support her, but -

But she had a bad leg, her head felt weird, her side and body ached and -

 _(And you're running out of time. Look at the clock. At the hands.)_

Ticking. Inching around. Slowly, but they were moving.

 _(Final clock. Time to win.)_

 _(Be a hero, Sarah Williams.)_

 _(Beat the Labyrinth.)_

 _(Win.)_

She looked down, willing her eyes to have night vision.

 _(If I drop, I should be ok. I just have to land on my - my other side. I think.)_

 _(And then what? If you miscalculated you'll just stab your good side? Is that the plan?)_

 _(Silence, logic.)_

She took a deep breath and tipped off the bed. She hit with a thud, her head knocked against the gear slightly, but she didn't slide. _(Now what.)_

Another gear turned towards her, teeth sticking out.

 _(If I can hold onto that, I think it'll - it'll push me closer to the next gear.)_

 _(If I can hold onto it.)_

She looked down at her hands. She didn't have anything left for this, no strength, no stamina, no grip, and if she tried, she'd slip into nothingness.

Sarah stared at the crunching teeth, grinding away. Even if she could use her hands, if she didn't let go at the exact moment, her fingers would be gone, snapped away in metal.

 _(Ok, so now what then, genius?)_

 _(If I had something I could use to suspend myself…)_

She sighed, frustrated, tugging at her bag, which cut into her neck -

her bag. Her bag with a strap.

 _(This is a stupid idea.)_

 _(And I am out of non-stupid ideas. Lassoing myself it is.)_

 _(The odds of this succeeding -)_

She pushed away the thought, waiting, then threw the bagstrap around the protruding gear.

It caught and she was heaved into the air, the bag hauling her upwards.

"Come on come on come on come ON!" She felt herself slipping out of the strap and swung her leg out, trying to propel herself, landing on the edge of the next gear and falling forward as the bag slid off the tooth.

 _(Oh hell yes.)_

It was a cut-out gear and she grabbed the bars, rotating with it until she got her bearings. It was all light and dark and but Sarah could see more gear-teeth ahead of her, and they were huge, huge and rising towards -

towards the clock. She had to get to them. She had to.

 _(How? What next?)_

There was a door in front of her, hanging, suspended by rods in the air. Sarah tossed her bag-strap at the handle as she rotated towards it and it connected, the door swinging open. She twisted her hips, forcing herself towards another, smaller gear, and she tapped her foot onto it - then her bad one - she was on.

Her bag was stuck. Sarah glared at the door, tugging.

"Let - it - _go!"_ She yanked, pulling the handle towards her with a stubborn, I'm-not-giving-up-the-one-thing-I-have-left strength that shouldn't technically be there, but was, somehow. The door lurched, then swung, then _fell,_ and Sarah gasped as it careened into the darkness, crunching into gears under it, eaten away, sparks flying up in the black.

 _(That's going to happen to me if I fuck this up. Only with a lot more red instead of sparks.)_

 _(So don't fuck this up.)_

The last gear loomed in front of her, massive and churning upward to meet the clock face. Sarah hopped towards it, faced backwards, and fell onto the tooth like a ski lift, but she landed, ticking up, up up. She balanced herself, looking at the clock. It was there but -

but the gear was too far. There was nothing to leap onto, there was nothing to -

There was space. And there was distance. And -

a giant pendulum. One that was swinging towards her horizontally, looming and deadly and -

 _Oh fuck no._

The one thing she didn't have was time. The gears were already ticking down and she was missing her window - she jumped.

Sarah crashed into the pendulum, sailing away from the clockface in the darkness, over a sea of writhing gears, twisting and turning and -

Then back towards the clockface, the giant owl's wings so far away above her -

back over the gears -

 _(I'm gonna be sick I'm running out of time it's short and I need to let go - that's all I have to do let go and stick the landing - come on, come on -)_

Her arms were sliding, limp, unable to hold her upright, legs shaking, her thoughts swimming - "It has to be now. It has to be now. It has to -"

She jumped, pushing off. Sinking through the air, reaching, reaching -

Then, landing; collapsing on her bad leg, crying out, and rolling up to the face of the clock.

Sarah was tired, she was so tired, every muscle felt like it was seizing, begging her to stop, to rest but she had _made it._ The clock's face was a dull grey.

"Almost… Done… Ok… What do you want. How do I solve you. How do I…"

There weren't numbers. There were pictures.

"Oh come on… I can't…" She groaned, squinting and forcing herself upright on her good leg, her bad one stiff, her side on fire, fresh tears pricking in her eyes and blurring her vision as she stared at the tiny pictures. "I don't… Red drop, peach, buckle… Buckle? What? These aren't the challenges, it should be a book, and fruit, and mush…"

 _Buckle, a broken mirror, a coin…_

 _(I used those things…)_

"This… Is this how I solved the challenges? It is, isn't it?" Sarah traced her finger around the clock. "This Labyrinth was about… What the Labyrinths were, so how I solved them would be… So… Wrote in blood, picked the peach, cut through the mushrooms… " She stopped at 11. "But… This one… It's…"

It was empty. There was a hole, a perfect circle.

"The fuck is that supposed to be? I didn't solve - anything like that!" Her head ached. "11 was Sleeping Beauty, and I didn't solve this one, I just woke up and got -"

No. That wasn't true. She didn't just "wake up".

She'd been looking at her mirror, and - Sarah slowly reached into her pocket, pulling out the acorn cap. She held her breath, sliding it with shaking hands into the opening. It fit, clicking into place.

"Ok. Ok. So then… 12 is going to be…"

Another empty oval. Another hole.

"But… But I don't have another acorn! What… Am I supposed to fit in that? A watch? I beat a clock challenge by finding clocks… But… Mine doesn't even… Work, and it's too big!"

Her words echoed into the cogs. She felt the opening with stiff, bloodied fingertips. It was rounder, more wide, but not quite a circle, almost a curving rectangle. One last thing, she just needed one last thing, this had to work - the acorn cap, and now this weird shape -

 _(I didn't understand the acorn cap anyway. But it has to be a clue. There's no acorns in Sleeping Beauty though! So… Did he use an acorn to wake me up? Is this a magic thing? All he was supposed to do was kiss me!)_

 _(Except… Maybe it didn't work. Right? That's why he maybe disappeared, because he had to end up using magic.)_

 _(It_ was _supposed to be_ true _love's kiss that broke it, after all. If he even did kiss me. Not just any random… Kiss. Not from some random elf.)_

 _(Random? He's a lot of things, but ran-)_

 _(I meant - not from some elf that is a Goblin King and very mysterious and whom I know not a lot about, not even enough to be sure if we're friends, let alone stupid fucking true love.)_

She forced out a husky humorless laugh.

 _(Stupid.)_

 _(And on the third hand, maybe he didn't even hear me.)_

She tore her thoughts away. "This isn't - ok. It's an acorn. I got… An acorn out of the dream. Why… Did I even get this thing?" Even her tongue felt tired, thick against her teeth, but she pushed forward, the fatigue a kind of dull constant energy, barely holding her in place, but it would have to be used, just until she could - "What kind of fairy... Thing is this…? She wakes up with a kiss… A kiss to break the curse - but I woke up with this… So… An acorn in this case, woke me up, so technically, whether I got kissed or not, this acorn is… True love's kiss? What?"

 _(An acorn cap and a kiss… An acorn cap and a kiss… Those don't fit togeth-)_

Sarah stared at the cap, her brain straining and heavy with exhaustion. "… I -"

 _(Sleeping Beauty doesn't wake up from an acorn, she wakes up from a kiss. But -_

 _but Jareth disappeared right after I woke up, so he must have done something magical.)_

 _(But I was the one in the dream who pulled out the acorn from the mirror!)_

 _(The mirror… Maybe the mirror…)_

"The mirror… He - no, he said it was Hoggle that gave me the mirror." _(Wait… He said it was… Hoggle's… Idea. So…)_

 _(Does that mean… Hoggle's idea, but that doesn't mean it was… Was it Jareth's mirror? And… If that's true… My mirror is a portal, so… So if I was trapped, in a dream… And I got an acorn… A magical acorn… But an acorn? An ACORN? I don't know!)_

"Goddammit… Elf." Sarah clutched her forehead, leaning against the clock, which ticked forward endlessly.

 _(This acorn has to mean something… It has to, all things are symbols in fairy tales, even my fucked-up versions of them… Acorns in fairy tales… Represent…)_

 _(Squirrels. Woods.)_

 _(Fuck.)_

 _(It represents… Well, fine. Let's say. Let's just say it represents a kiss, ok? Even if it doesn't. It has to represent a kiss for me to wake up.)_

 _(An acorn that represented a kiss would be -)_

 _(Stupid. That's not a real thing. That's a fairy thing, or -)_

 _Wait._

 _There is…_

 _There is a boy who never grew up, a boy who refused to behave or listen - a boy who believes in fairies -_

"Fucking A."

 _(There is one story…)_

 _(There is one story with fairies that has a kiss in it - a physical kiss - and an acorn cap.)_

"A magical kiss." Whispered Sarah, opening her eyes, "A magical kiss that stopped death, giving only sleep instead, on a bed of roses… A kiss from a little boy who was immature and would never change or grow up, who couldn't understand what kisses were, so he gave Wendy… An acorn, and she gave him… A…"

She grabbed her bag, digging desperately.

"Where's the sewing kit, where's the kit, wh- _OW!"_

She'd found it, pricking herself on the needles in the process. There was the thread. The pins, and - _there._ She snatched it, finger sticky.

"Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up… He didn't understand what kisses are, so Wendy gives him… A thimble, and she calls it a kiss." She held the it to the clock. "So… If I woke up from an acorn, then… Here is my kiss. Acorn, thimble, and the midnight hour. Time is short, but this… This will work."

 _(I think because honestly this is the best idea I have right now besides passing out and dying alone in a giant clock.)_

 _(So please work.)_

It fit, clicking in perfectly as the hands ticked into place. The owl above her whirled to life, wings flapping mechanically and she covered her ears as screams rang out.

 _(Wait. Fuck. Is this whole place gonna collapse in on itself, and rearrange? I didn't think about that! Shit - there's nothing - there's nothing to grab onto! Nothing!)_

"JARETH!" She yelled against the screeching and -

 _(You said - you said you'd be there as the world - crumbled or something - so come on -)_

Sarah fell, the gears collapsing up all around her. Slowly but she fell, she plummeted into the darkness and the gears flew up and around and she was light, her body was weightless, but she wasn't floating, she was sinking into them…

 **Super secret A/N!** Because you KNOW it's a good story when I have to clarify stuff! Aha! Hahaha! Ahahahahahadkjfhdkjfha. Ok basically I tried but I couldn't figure how to base the last maze off a story/legend/fairy tale. I searched high and low for a clock-based fairy tale, but nothing really popped out at me besides a lot of symbolism so I decided to... Use it. She's running out of time. It's a coocoo clock, why be subtle ahhahaaaaaa I dunno man. Maybe it doesn't make that much sense either, but I like it. Plus the mirrors, the mushrooms, and the well were all folklore, so I thought maybe - just maybe - I could throw in a lil symbolism and try to get away with it *sweating bullets as I type this, feeling the judgement of the internet upon me*

\- The "scream" is the cry of the Barn owl. At first I thought it would be cool to have a eerie 'whooo' ringing out like a demented coocoo clock bc this whole maze is a coocoo clock but then I looked up barn owl cries and uh… Yeah there's no way that sounds anything like a 'who'. Just for clarification. Look it up. I dare you. I'm suprised Barn owls aren't the ones called Screech owls. The heck, science.

\- I included these notes bc most of the other mazes were either fairly easy to visualize or were fairy tales so basically you kinda had a sense of them either way. Wet passage ways? Ok basically an open sewer. Mushrooms? Most people know what those look like. Jewel trees? Picture a bedazzled orchard. This was uh... Hard to describe from my head. Kenetic Winchester Mystery Coocoo. Yikes. I decided to try to explain it a bit. It's over now. Don't worry. We move on from here.


	33. The World Falls Down

**A/N:** PSYCH YOU THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE THE END DIDN'T YOU. DIDN'T YOU. WELL SO DID SARAH. But it's not quite over yet! There's been no Big Dramatic Climax™! But, soon. Mr. J will be returning very shortly! Kudos to anyone that read all the solo Sarah bits! I'm aware that's probably not what you came for or why you're here, y'all deserve a lil award of patience. And if you skipped ahead well uh… GO BACK AND READ IT IT'S IMPORTANT FOR LATER!

YOOOO ALSO EVERYONE WHO CALLED OUT THAT IT WAS PETER PAN BWAHAHAHA WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS WRITING THIS CHAPTER!? I was like 'how to I connect this properly' sitting with my hands in my hair and coffee in my veins and then I was like AH Peter Pan! YES! But only after I made a list of all other magical fruit it could've been. Bless y'all. Instant guessing that it was Peter Pan. YOU GET IT. YOU. GET. IT.

ALSO ALSO THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT ON MY CLOCK TANGENT! I WAS PRETTY WORRIED IT WOULDN'T MAKE SENSE BUT ONCE AGAIN YALL GOT IT! ahhh sweet sweet validation. AND you liked it! I was fairly worried. I shouldn't be! You always have my back! But it was so nice to read in the reviews. Once again - gracias! New followers, reviewers, old followers that stuck around - blessings all around, welcome, and thank you for your kindness, as always.

(Also, yes, OK, she did technically " _choose"_ Toby in the 'Ruins' scene but I always considered that to be PART of the Escher room cause I thought that the Escher room kind of - broke apart into the Ruins? That's always how I interpreted it. Like it was all falling apart and then Jareth used the last bit of time re-ordering and costume-changing flair to make one last bid for her amidst the ruins, holding it in pieces but together as the clock ran out. But - that's me.)

ALMOST THERE GUYS! HALLOWEEN IN 2 WEEKS!

 **The World Falls Down**

She landed, slowly. Everything felt… Sluggish. Numb. There was pain, but it was… Far away. She was uncomfortable, but it somehow… Wasn't a pressing matter anymore. Sarah shook her head, trying to clear it and watched, fascinated, as a trickle of blood floated up. Where was she? It didn't feel like she'd won. Everything was dark shadows, only intercut by a harsh, stark light. Grey and black, and there were… Stairs.

 _No, please, no more walking, especially no more stairs._

And dust. Glittery stairs and glittery dust, covering everything in a shimmering dull haze. She looked around, eyes beginning to adjust to the new darkness.

"But I… Won. That was the 12th Labyrinth. That was the 12th clock." Her voice sounded far away, as if underwater. "… I… I know this… Place."

Sarah squinted into the shadows, a feeling was creeping up on her. She'd been… Here before.

 _In this exact place…_

It had been different, but the same gut feeling - like she'd hit a bump unexpectedly, or missed a step, her stomach not quite catching up with the rest of her.

The unpleasant feeling pushed forward, mixing with others. Dread. Fear. Regret. Guilt. Uncertainty. A wave of emotions, but agonizingly slow, like a tide. They hit her slowly, one by one, each lingering. She felt new tears well up in her eyes before she knew why.

"This is… Where…"

It had ended. This is where Sarah had chosen.

The Escher room.

An Escher room after a suspiciously endless and architecturally-defying castle clock Labyrinth…

"Escher… Jareth…? Are you here?"

Her voice carried away, whispering into impossible corners.

Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. But Sarah didn't feel like this was the silence of someone watching. This felt like the silence of being alone. Alone in a place where time stopped existing, along with the rules of gravity and the laws of physics…

"What… Am I supposed to do?" Silence. "I just want to…"

 _To what? Get out of here? Win? Save him? Be the hero?_

 _What do I want?_

 _What do I do?_

She had read the books, she should know the answers. She should be able to play this game, and win. If this were a story she'd have already seen the tropes. But she couldn't. Every time there were three unanswered questions to the one riddle she solved. She'd gone through stones and forest, water and fire, but was she really any closer to the center? Was there even a center? What was this place? Sarah was beyond exhaustion; she was burned out and had nothing left to light.

 _I should be enjoying this. This IS what I wanted._

 _Was it…?_

This was _exactly_ what she had wanted. All those hours in silence, all those days staring at the mirror… Wishing and wanting…

 _Take me away… I wish… I wish…_

She lifted her heavy hand, watching the grey, gleaming dust that spiraled up at her movement. This _was_ what she'd wanted. She'd _longed_ , _yearned_ , silently begged to be taken away again, to live the life of a fairy tale. She'd _asked_ for this. For an adventure in a magical land where she was the heroine and -

and she could do this -

"But I don't know… How to solve this."

If this were a normal fairy tale, even a normal Labyrinth, she should be… Looking for something. Anything. A clue, a theme. But she had nothing to chase, there was no lead… At least last time, she'd had a singing monarch and a baby brother to follow…

She should be exploring and searching, but… But the Escher room wasn't a Labyrinth, not really. It was a prison, designed to confuse and keep you inside. There was nothing to explore except infinity, endlessly. She could jump, but…

But previously she'd also had the ruler of the place to make sure she was transported safely away.

Sarah sighed, trying to have an answer. She didn't know what else to do besides wait. There wasn't anywhere to go, at least nowhere that would lead to anything besides another path, another series of bleached stone steps that twisted and turned on and on and on…

 _I gave a magical kiss. I said I was sorry. I solved my own Labyrinth. I don't know what else to do… This isn't even mine anymore… This is his._

"Jareth?" Her voice sounded tiny, a weak whisper that fell into the steps and arches, echoing away and back to her instantly.

 _I make a terrific knight-in-shining-armor, don't I. Caked in everything I've traveled in, sitting here, beaten up and bloodied and looking like shit and… And I have no clue how to get past this level, whatever it is. With Toby at least there was a goal, but now there's… Nothing._

She needed to think harder. Sarah unhooked the bag from her shoulder carefully, making sure it didn't fall away, or up, or whatever direction her piece of stone was in.

 _What do I do? Should I try to like… Summon him? Maybe I can use the string again, like I did when…_

Like she'd done ages ago to get back to this place.

She dumped the contents into the dust. Broken shells, string, candles, sage and coins clattered to the ground slowly stirring up glitter. Sarah coughed. Most of it was ruined by ice or heat, soggy papers fused together or melted wax. She could try the string again, the one thing the goblins hadn't snatched away when she'd toppled back. It looked kind of - burnt, and she'd already used it to get in. She gripped it, ready to throw. It definitely didn't look like it had a second go in it, but if worked for Tom Sawyer and Thaddeus, for Irene, for all those characters in Sarah's precious research stories, then it was worth a -

she threw it in the air and it fell away to the depths of an impossible staircase.

"… Alrighty then."

With a quiet sigh, she laid everything out, trying to see if there was anything left that could be used or even something she could make. Nothing sparked. Nothing flashed. She tried her emergency lighter, for the hell of it. It clicked faintly, refusing to spark.

"Great. Well, Labyrinth, I'm out of ideas. And… Everything."

She sat, feeling… Dead, mostly. Drained of all she had, including blood. She glanced down at her wound, but it was hard to tell if it was still bleeding through the clotted bandage, and she couldn't really feel it, anyways. The concept was there, but… It was only a mild discomfort.

Sarah closed her eyes, trying to concentrate.

 _What's the challenge here? Nothing attacking me… I already know the fairy tale this is from, technically… Mine. And there's not a way to beat this one… Not without… Him._

 _I feel so tired… Numb. Not, like, poppies-enchanted numb, just… Empty._

 _Alone._

 _Sorry I couldn't rescue you, Jareth. I did fight my way here to the castle; in fact, I fought_ the _castle, but in the end there was… Nothing. No end. There was no danger and no hardships, just a room. I hope you're safe._

 _I can't think. I can't… I don't know what to do. I'm supposed to fix everything, but…_

What _was_ she going to do? Jump into the abyss-chasm of Escher, fall forever into stairs and passages, stones of shadows and light?

Or drop, gravity somehow working in an upside-down twist, and plummet into the flat stones and sharp angles, her bleeding side and hurt ankle twisting and finally breaking under her as she lay in dust in the forgotten place…

 _Maybe that's what I'm supposed to do. Sacrifice myself and be forgotten here, alone? Lose to the Labyrinth?_

Sarah wiped at her tired eyes, blinking back fuzzy dull tears. It was possible.

 _That… Could be it. To fall, forever - or not, and end it quickly. It might fix this mess, this is the place last time where I decided, where I chose Toby…_

 _So if I choose the Labyrinth, if I… Undo it and leap, it could…. Even things out. So I guess that's… Ok then._

It wasn't, but she couldn't seem to think very clearly anymore. And at least even if she did land, and brake, fading away, she would _end_ the story, and that would be all right, wouldn't it?

Maybe she wasn't the hero. After all, she'd destroyed the kingdom. Maybe she was the villain. Villains always died, alone usually; evil was destroyed, purged from existence, and the Good lived Happily Ever After.

"Oh."

Now the tears leaked out, and she made no effort to stop them. The thought made more sense then she wanted it to. _So…_. _That's it. It could be. I have to…_

 _I don't want to leave them._

 _But I didn't want this to happen to them, either… You wished for this…_

 _"_ _No."_ She whispered, tears turning from a leak to a broken trickle. "That's not… True. I wished… Not to be alone. I wished to come back. I wished for… Them. Not just the adventure. But… Maybe I don't get a choice between the two."

 _And it wasn't_ just _an adventure, was it? You got to see_ them _, even if it was only for a moment, or a few hours, in his case… At least you made it_ back _, Sarah. One last time. If you had to be alone forever, trapped or dying, aren't you at least glad you got to see them?_

"Yes." Her vision was blurry. _Yes, I am. Of course. But… It doesn't make it hurt less. Now it hurts more, almost. I got to - almost. So close. But what's said is said._

She curled up, knees to her chest, everything cold and dusty and alone in an endless room in an unending Labyrinth.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was muffled and thick with tears. "I know… I didn't mean to, and it wasn't completely my fault, but…"

 _But they shouldn't have had to suffer and lose their homes, because of me. Jareth was never meant to lose his kingdom, his magic… And he certainly shouldn't have had to - disappear, die, whatever happened to him. Not for me. Not for a selfish girl who didn't want to be alone._

"I'm sorry."

There was no response, just her quiet noises, which bounced around, fading too slowly into crevices.

 _Ok, say I jump. Say I jump and I don't get transported, I meet a full-on solid wall, with a crunch and a crack. What's going to happen to me in here? Will I waste away, become a skeleton? Will my bones start refracting here, too? Will… Even if that fixes the Labyrinth, will they ever find me?_

 _Won't know until I try._

 _This is a stupid idea._

 _Every idea that I've had has been stupid, and most of them have worked. Hell, even this place is a stupid idea, isn't it? A bunch of them, all pulled from my brain, right? Maybe that's why I was able to… Get as far as I did._

She looked down, into the layers of blackness under her, light streaming in at angles that shouldn't be.

 _Gonna jump into a pit of stairs, that seems like it's gonna end well. But even if it doesn't…_

 _At least… At least they promised they'd watch over Toby, and he deserves that. Even if not for me, they owe him that for the kidnapping. Toby deserves them in his life. Ironically._

 _I hope they tell him… I tried. Hell, I hope they know I tried._

Sarah, out of habit, slowly grabbed her bag to place everything back in.

She pulled it up to - heavy.

 _Heavy?_

She blinked through her tears. There was something in the bag still. She reached down, all the way to the bottom, shoving aside stiff fabric, and felt -

 _squish._

"Ew!" She recoiled with speed she didn't know was left, staring at her hand.

 _The fuck was that? Did I leave a moldy sandwich in there or something? Did a mushroom get stuck inside and take root!? Gross!_

She turned the bag fully inside-out, gritting her teeth and dumping whatever it was onto the ground, then paused, heart thudding to a halt.

 _"_ _Son of a -…"_

It was the peach. The peach from the orchard. Aladdin's peach, the one she'd picked - … What felt like years ago… - pulled from the forest of riches and jewels. The plain, regular, peach. Sarah grabbed it and sat, staring.

"I've been carrying this the whole way - and -"

She was too flabbergasted. And she was squeezing it too tightly, it began to dent, the flesh sinking in beneath her fingers.

 _The fuck does this mean? What do I do with this? Is this his spell or my twisted subconscious? This is exactly fucking like him - how close have I been this entire time? And what - do I need to do?_

Was she still in the dream? Had she left Sleeping Beauty? Was she supposed to bite this and wake up? Or go in a dream within a dream? Or…

"Did I even beat the Labyrinth? Is this the end?"

 _Or has it been unending because I never properly finished this?_

Whatever 'this' was. She stared.

 _You know what you need to do. It's a peach. It's a dream peach. You have to fucking bite it. That's how your story works._

Sarah grimaced. She had avoided the fruit entirely since her prior run-in with them and she didn't want to do this now, either.

 _Significantly better plan than leaping into space with a prayer as a parachute though, right? I just have to bite it. Maybe I don't have to actually eat it this time. Come on. Worth a try._

Sarah slowly raised it to her lips. The fuzz tickled her skin, spreading goosebumps.

"Argh." She forced herself to nibble the fruit. It was too soft, too sweet - like biting into a solid block of something frozen, a horrible chill rippling through her teeth. "EW!"

She spat out the bite, gagging and scrubbing at her mouth. The cloying taste stained her tongue like a metallic nectar, sweet and golden, tasting like a hundred peaches concentrated into one bite. The thing was oozing juice, her hand instantly sticky.

"Gross! No way! The first one didn't taste like that at all! It's gone bad, or poisoned, or -" She spit, looking at it. "Or - what th-"

There something in the golden flesh of the peach - it glinted.

"O… K…" Sarah stuck her finger towards whatever it was, pushing away the pulp. It squelched, causing even more juice to run. The smell of peach was overpowering, even in the dead air. " _Ugh_."

She dug until she hit something hard. The pit. But - Sarah pulled her fingers away, rotating the fruit between shadows.

 _There's definitely something catching the light. Something silver._

She pulled at both sides of the peach until it oozed, splitting, and then fell apart in her hands, hitting the ground with a soft _splat._ She frowned as she stared at her fingers, holding onto the remaining peach pit. It glittered silver in the dim light, catching it, shining like chrome, almost like…

 _Almost like the acorn cap. Almost like my mirror._

She let out a breath of air. "Ok, ok… I can figure this out. What are you from? What are you?"

 _A get-out-of-jail-free card?_

It didn't feel weird, it wasn't tingly or glowing or hot…

 _James and the Giant Peach? No glittering pits in that… There's a story with golden_ apples, _but that's not quite the same… Fruit… Magic flashy fruit…_

"Do I plant you? She cleared the dust away in a little crater and placed the pit in it. Nothing happened. "Oh, come on."

 _Well, I'm not eating that peach. Keep thinking._

 _"_ Ok." She sighed, closing her eyes.

 _Play the game. Tell the story._

"Snow White had the apple. That was poison. Persephone had the pomegranate, and that was enchanted. Atlanta also had apples, but she didn't eat those. Princess and the Pea… No…" She massaged her forehead with her free hand, thinking. " _But…_ The first time I ate the peach, I just had a bite and passed out. But now… I'm still awake, and there's something at the center of this one, not a worm."

 _What if there was a sparkly pit at the center of the very first one, and you just didn't see it? What was the point of the first one? To - to distract me. From getting Toby._

 _Ah, but you've been over this before._

 _Been over_ what?

 _He didn't need to do the dream peach to distract you. He didn't need to make a magic ball to distract you._

"Ok, so… There's something I'm missing with this peach… This can't be all it is… So with the old one - he wanted to trick me… To… Lose… Toby."

 _But he said he didn't like… Children… After a while… They were boring and…_

"So… The purpose of the peach/ballroom was to make me lose… Myself? And… What. To stay? No. What? Maybe. I never got a straight-forward answer. And that has nothing to do with the _pit!"_

She shook it. Nothing.

"Maybe… Maybe -" She held it up to her face, eyes narrowing in the darkness. "Maybe you're _all_ about distraction. Maybe it's not about you… Transforming, or dreaming or anything like that it's - could be it's about something you can _already_ do… Do… Do you open?" She squinted, holding her breath. There. A line, almost invisible, where the two sides joined. "All peach pits can split, so… You _open_ , don't you."

Is that it? _What fairy tale had an opening peach pit? Or any opening kind of seed? The Borrowers? Thumbelina?_

 _…_ _Wait. Wait. There was one story - one - that did have a peach in it. Besides mine._

"Ok… Ok, so - so - what was that called!? It was - about -" She closed her eyes. "In ancient… Japan, an old couple couldn't have children - so the wife prayed and prayed - and a peach floated to her. And when they opened it -" _A child burst forth from the pit. And his name was -_

 _"_ _Momotaro."_ Sarah breathed. "J… _Jareth?"_

The pit grew warm in her hands.

"Oh! Oh! Shit! Ok! Fuck! I'm - hang on!" _Hang on Momotaro or Jareth or whoever in there!_

She stared at it. What should she -

 _You have to open the peach to let Momotaro out._

"Fuck." Sarah glanced around. She didn't have a knife. She didn't even have keys. She hit the pit with the dead lighter, her hand bouncing back with surprising force.

 _Good thing I didn't try my teeth._

Her clumsy swollen fingers weren't any more successful, her arms shaking. "Shit!"

 _Well, they opened it with a knife in the story. But…_

"I'll try -" Sarah rooted through the bag, feeling for something, anyth- the pen. Maybe the tip was pointed enough to pry it… She let out a breath, then placed the peach pit on its side, holding the pen above it.

The pit grew heavy in her hands, a magnetic pull to it, dark and rich, and her skin crawled with the feeling.

 _Magic._

 _Ok. This has to be it, has to be the end, the end of all of it, to the Labyrinth, the magic, whatever. The Escher room was the end of the first Labyrinth, I've run out of clues and obstacles, and this peach… This has to be the key, somehow. I open it and restore the balance, release the power, do something, I can feel it._

 _Besides, I don't think I have anything left in me to keep going. So this_ has _to be it._

 _Finally. I break the enchantment. The answer was with me all along, had the power the whole time within, click your heels, listen to your heart, blah blah blah. This is me being a hero. Living my happily-ever-after._

Sarah swallowed, arm tensing.

 _Ok. Here I go. Right? This is me, going. Breaking the curse. The magic. This is what I wanted. To do this and get out, right? Be the hero, save the day, end the story._

So why was her arm frozen in place…

 _And what then?_

Well, she'd go back home, is what then. She'd go home and take a nice, long, hot shower, possibly a quick side-trip to the ER, and sleep. And hopefully eat something. After she… Went home.

 _And then what?_

Well… And then… She'd be able to… Things would go back the way they were. She could continue with acting, hopefully physically feel better, start doing stuff with her life… Like… Like…

Well, she'd get an agent, get a career. And travel, she always liked traveling, seeing the world…

 _A world without magic._

 _No, I'll have the goblins, I'll have Hoggle and Ludo and Didymus, and… And him, they'll be there, just like it was, and we'll…_

 _Won't they?_

 _Yes, because I'm going to restore balance, I'm going to give back the magic, and then they'll be able to visit. Right?_

 _Right?_

 _Should you need us, they'd said…_

 _But…_

Did they?

What if they didn't need _her_ , not after she'd destroyed their home, not after a year away from her, not after… She'd become this.

 _I need them, though -_

Enough to demand their attention, to pull them away from repairing their country? Would she even be able to talk to them? This might end the Labyrinth, but… Would it fix the barrier? Could it really be that easy, that black and white? Snap your fingers, pry the peach, everything's back to normal, that year never happened, the magic was never gone?

Would it even be _safe_ to see her? Or would she run the risk of destroying it all once more, always an unspoken threat. Someone who'd won and could win again, a human girl with dangerous, unstable magic, so it would be better to be safe and sealed away in the human world -

 _No, no, they're my friends, that's ridiculous, Jareth wouldn't - he wouldn't do that. He'd… He'd come and see -_

See the one person who'd ruined it all?

Would he even want to?

Her arm shook, anxiety working it's way up the length of her appendage, spreading through her fingers…

 _It's fine it's fine that won't happen -_

 _that might happen - it could, it will -_

 _it doesn't matter, just open it. Open it! It's not your decision to make -_

She was paralyzed, fear riddling her body. "I - I - I don't - I don't want -"

 _…_ _You don't want it to end, do you Sarah? You don't want to be back in that world - your world - alone._

"I won't be - I'll - he knows. He knows I want to come back. To see them. Him. He won't - he'll make sure -"

 _'_ _I'll give you back the Labyrinth, and then I can go home, right? They'll be able to see me, right? There won't be a barrier or a block or anything?' She had asked._

 _'_ _Something like that.' He'd replied, a frown on his face, and something unspoken beyond that._

 _…_ _Something like - what?_

 _I don't… Know._ _But he won't leave me alone to rot! I - I won't let him._

Tears leaked out, floating upward. She just let the vision blur of the glinting pit in the dark dust. Her pulse wasn't going fast and her breathing was fine. She just felt like -

Like her heart was going to break.

 _This isn't about you, Sarah. You don't get a say. You don't get to be selfish, you get to be happy that the ending and the answer is right here, in the palm of your hand. Literally. A minute ago you thought the answer was jumping off into the chasm alone, so you're already doing better, I'd say. Stop crying and fix this._

 _If you get barred from this world - that's 'The End'. For you, for broke the story, you forced it to tell a new chapter, and that's not what's supposed to happen. A villain stole away your brother, you rescued him and saved the day, the end, but you couldn't leave it at that. You… You wished and you won and you came back and made it all screwy and now it's not the same story anymore. It's broken. It needs to be_ fixed _. That's the game, and you lose. You said no, once. You don't get a second chance. Or another wish. This isn't about getting to be a part of this world, or your perfect idea of a fairy tale ending. It's not even about magic, or - or - or seeing him - or having an_ adventure \- _or even somehow -… Just… This is about saving the world! Their world. Whether you get to see them again or not… Look at this magic - he's not in control. It's hurting people, it's taken him and it almost killed you. And really, what's the alternative to going home? Staying? Here? That's not an option. And why would you want to risk that, even if it were?_

"Because… " She was sobbing, her body shaking silently. Her voice tried to stay steady, but it was cracking and breaking away from her, echoing and entombed all around.

 _Because…_

 _Because you thought belonged here, didn't you._

 _A human girl? With a bunch of warped pet creatures? You thought you'd study them and then you'd fit right in? Because you researched and bargained yourself a happily-ever-after?_

Or maybe… Because staying here, in pain, was better than going back to nothing.

 _Belong. Please. What was the question you never could bring yourself to even ask him, Sarah?_

 _Why did you want me to_ _stay_ _. Why, Jareth._

 _But what no one knew is that the King of Goblins had fallen in love with the girl…_

And well, that was it exactly. It was all part of a fairy tale. A fictional, real, words-on-the-page, fairy tale. In a book. But… Maybe not necessarily… Her's. Maybe just one she'd forced herself into.

 _Was it about love? Or was it about winning? Am I even the girl in that story? What did he want? What do I want…_

"I want to belong." Her fracturing voice wasn't even a whisper, it was a breath. "I want to - to see everyone, I don't want to have to leave…"

 _I want to stay._

 _Everything you wanted I have done._

 _Well, we're about even now, I think._

 _The hero slays the dragon, the hero breaks the curse. And then they move on. That's why they're a hero. They save the day and keep going. And I can't die a villain. I can't stay. I have to fix this. I have to do what's right._

Sarah closed her eyes. Her inner voice was speaking truthfully; this wasn't about keeping her friends. This was doing the right thing, the correct sacrifice at the precise time. Because that's what a hero did. She would save him, would save this place. And then she would… Brave the possibility of leaving, or being barred or sent away, forever trapped on the other side of the mirror.

He would get his kingdom back. He would be busy, would rule over children, children like her, crying over their lost siblings. Or young mothers, or babysitters, but… _Someone would stay. Someone will say yes. Maybe they wouldn't be as stupid as I was._

Maybe.

She'd given her answer years ago. The past was the past. Time couldn't really be reordered. Not like this. Not really. And she wasn't anyone's slave, she wasn't a puppet for the Labyrinth's magic, she was herself. Alone if she had to be.

Because that was the way it was done. The End.

"It wasn't my fault."

The words fell from her lips like a sigh. She hadn't meant them to, but this place…

This is where she'd decided, thrown it all back in his face, his mean, haughty, taunting face, the one that had been mocking and tempting her, stealing her brother and manipulating everything -

and then in one instant, in the ruins, he'd given her one more chance, even though she'd decided, and she'd seen it.

A glimpse. A flash. Just like in the ice caves and the memory - the mask was gone and there had been something in his eyes besides darkness and mystery, something like… Hope?

No, it had been…

A wish.

His eyes were _wishing._ They were begging, they were pleading. Stay.

But of course - she couldn't _stay._

It - it was ridiculous. She was a _child,_ she had a _family_ to go back to, a world she was already a part of, and -

and she thought she could still see them, forever, so - it -

 _It wasn't my fault that I was only 16 and you offered me the world, Jareth. Not my choice that you found me when I was spoiled and too young. You stole a child from a child and you didn't play fair and I didn't know what I wanted and it wasn't my life to give, and Toby's wasn't yours to take._

 _But…_

"What am I supposed to do, Jareth? Say 'You do have power over me'? 'I take it all back'? Say… That… For all the time you can re-order, somehow… It still just wasn't the right moment." Her voice cracked to a broken whisper. "Or do you need to hear that I'm an idiot and now, if I had a chance again, I'd - I'd say…"

 _What would I say?_

There was no answer.

 _If he was here right now? Would I stay? Would I leave everything?_

"Well… It's not like you're asking, right?" She took a deep shaky breath. "Jareth…"

She raised the pen up. What should a hero say? You have no power over me! Happily ever after! Be free! Take back your Labyrinth and rule the land!

 _Goodbye?_

Maybe the last one would be more appropriate.

She exhaled, wedging the pen in the pit. It cracked, splintering, the warm feeling becoming hot, blinding - her breath caught in her throat and Sarah's words changed on her tongue -

"I wish -"

\- her hand slipped, clicking the tip into place, and then the world became nothing but light.


	34. A Land Serene

**A/N:** Wow that was uuhhhhHHH LOTTA REVIEWS HOLY SHITAKI I LOOKED AT MY EMAIL AND WAS LIKE DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG!? Lol yes, I gave you a cliffhanger. APOLOGIES. ONE MORE. THIS ONE KINDAAA SUCKS. FOREWARNING. 

ALSO HOLY HELL YALL ARE SO SWEET THANK YOU! I GIVE YOU BETTER THANKS FURTHER DOWN BUT WOW THE REVIEWS! MAH HEART IS THIS HOW THE GRINCH FELT

(Also also yes I meant to post this friday but I literally forgot what day it was hahahaaaa)

Aw man. One more chapter after this. It is uh... Long. So quick question - which would yall prefer? I have a pretty big 'Afterward' for that chapter where I answer a couple questions and wrap it up. But it has to go AFTER the chapter ended bc spoilers. So. Here are my options:

1\. End the chapter, then paste the A/N at the bottom of the chapter.

2\. On the same day, post another "chapter" but label it A/N so people know.

I'm THINKING I just paste it at the end. Keep in mind that this chapter is HUGE and I don't know if anyone's gonna wanna read an A/N after a whopping 60 pages. Also, tone. On the other hand I feel like it's a bit pretentious to do a whole chapter for an author afterward? Thirdly though... I worked on this for a while and I feel like maybe I earned a just enough """street cred""" to do an afterward. At least for my own story. On a free website. Where I'm writing about someone else's characters. Hahaha my street cred card just burst into raging flames. Ah well. The point is, I am kinda good either way. I can't decide. Does anyone care either way? If you do, leave me a review/private message with your preference. If not, I'll decide on my own. Thank you!

AND THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS AND FOLLOWS! WELCOME, ROOKIES! YOU'RE JUST IN TIME FOR THE GLORIOUS EXPLODING FINALE* NEXT WEEK~! My seasoned followers that have stuck around for months if not years - thank you. Truly. Damn. We finally got here. And you stuck around since the beginning. The patience of SAINTS. Bless y'all Reviewers that took the time OUT OF YOUR DAY to encourage me and show support - thank you. Getting a review is like a compliment on crack. In a good way. It's late as I write that. Metaphors. What are they. See this is why I appreciate the reviews so much - your support and words are way better than what I can come up with as I stare at my computer trying to summon my feelings. 

So, basically - thanks. I mean it.

And now boys, here comes the buildup to the (I hope) payoff... 

(*explosion not included because of budget setbacks but there will be sparks)

 **A Land Serene**

"- Alas, though she layth in eternal slumber -"

"She ain't _dead,_ ya idjit. How many times -" An angry voice responded.

"Quiiiet." A whimpering growl.

"I just SAID, she ain't _dead! Quit yer whining!"_ The angry voice snapped.

"Sir Hoggle! I didn't _say_ she was dead, I said she was in _eternal slumber."_

"That's the same thing!"

"Tisn't!"

"Ti- um… Ti… Er - well, I'm right either way!"

"Aren't!"

"QUIIIIIIET!" The growl was now a sobbing roar.

"Stop _crying_! You'll wake 'er!"

"Waaaake?"

"Not to worry, Sir Ludo. You can't wake someone from an eternal slumber."

"Jareth save me from _fools_." The angry voice sounded close to throttling someone.

Sarah was… Awake. She knew she was awake, that it was time to stop sleeping, to tell the voices she was alive. But she felt… Everything was heavy, including her eyelids. She wanted to smile, but… She was too far away, too foggy still.

"Look: Why'd we be watchin' over 'er if all she was gonner do was _sleep?"_ The angry voice demanded.

"Rrraaaaaah!"

"What my good fellow here has just proclaimed."

"No - we ain't - that's a - she's gonna wake UP! Our orders was to let 'er _sleep_ until she _woke!_ " The speaker took an aggressive inhale.

There was a silence.

"Mayhap she hath been poisoned."

The breath that had been forced down by the angry voice was quickly expended. Sarah's mouth twitched, wanting to become a smile, and there was a sudden bark.

"Quiet, Ambrocious!"

"Saaaawwwwaahaahahaaahhh…" Something heavy suddenly landed on her head.

"Unf." She mumbled.

"Did you hear that!?"

"Yer steed? We all heard it." The second voice snapped.

"Silence! Get your paw off her, Ludo! Harken!"

The weight lifted from Sarah's head, followed by the sound of three breathers; or four, if you included a heavy pant from a faithful steed. Sarah waited with them, listening.

"What're we harkening for, exactly?" Angry voice.

"Through my keen ears, I… I thought I heard…"

 _(They're waiting for me. Waiting for me to wake up.)_ She realized suddenly. She opened her eyes, but it was _way_ too bright, and slammed them shut again.

"BEHOLD!? Didst thou spy -"

 _"_ _Everyone_ saw that, ya ninny!"

"Ambroious! The kiss of life! Go!"

"No, what're ya -"

Sarah was attacked with heavy slobbering.

"Argh!" She blindly shoved at something heavy and hairy.

 _"_ _She lives!"_

"Sawah!"

Sarah squinted in the bright light, trying to blink in fuzzy shapes.

"SAWWAAAAAAHAAHH -" The heavy thing landed on her head again, several times.

"Stop it! You're hittin'er!"

 _(That's Ludo's paw, isn't it. He's trying to pet me.)_

"- AAAAAHAHAHAAAAAHHHH-"

"Hiludo." She mumbled blearily.

"My lady! We all thought you were dead -"

"No, _WE_ didn't!" Hoggle said brusquely, even as he gently squeezed her hand. Sarah let out a groggy chuckle-cough, struggling to sit up. "Ya _was_ sleepin' an arful long time though, Sar."

Sir Didymus leapt on the bed, curling up next to her and she reached out heavily to scratch behind the ears. He tilted his head back, smiling, and she grinned through the sleep-haze. "You're all… Here. You didn't go… _I_ didn't go…"

 _(I feel… Happy.)_

The thought occurred to her from very far away, but it was true. She felt… Happy.

"Ya did it, Sarah." Hoggle sat on the bed, looking into her eyes.

"Did… What? What… Happened?"

"Rrraaaoaooaoaa-"

"Yer in the castle. _The_ castle."

"The - a real castle? No wood? No ticking?"

"Wot?"

"The… Goblin City castle!?" Sarah continued, realizing. "It… W _orked?_ "

"Indeed, milady!" Didymus waved his stick with vigor. "Justice has been restored! Wrongs have been righted! Balance has been -"

"Balanced?" She laughed.

"Verily! All that was -"

"She gets the idea." Hoggle shook his head. "Sittin' wit them two has been toil enough waiting for ya ta wake, lemme tell ya."

"How long was I out for?"

"Quite a few hours, milady." Didymus frowned, concerned. "Your wounds were most grievous -"

"My - oh!" Sarah looked down. She was bandage-free, her hands not bloody nor swollen, in fact - … "I'm -"

"Healed." Hoggle looked at her cautiously, as though she might break at any second. "Ya looked pretty rough, though."

"Rough!?" Didymus barked indignantly. "We thought you dead! Begone! Joined to the realm of the unliving forever! But my king and lord healed you at once, and set the kingdom back t-"

"Jar- _Jareth!"_ Sarah almost jumped out of bed, but her limbs, she instantly discovered, were still extremely sore. " _Jarauughghg- ow - ok -_ is he - is - is he -"

"He is restored to full power, fear not!" Sir Didymus leapt up, pacing the bed. "There was a great light and the kingdom rose from the ground, bit by bit, growing taller and taller, weeds, swamps, decrepit stones and whatnot refurbished to all moldy and decaying state, the castle growing, the Labyrinth twisting and twining, my lord resplendent as it all unfolded -"

"But he's alright? Where is he?" Sarah interrupted.

"That's right, we was supposed - to… Eh. " Hoggle began.

"To what?"

"… To tell 'im the 'very instant ya opened yer eyes'. Or - or sumthin' 'long those lines." Hoggle looked nervously at the others.

There was a pause, then a mad scramble as they all attempted to leave the room at once. Hoggle ran into Ludo several times as Didymus tried to vault onto Ambroious, who avoided him skillfully. They circled each other and there was a lot of general muffled cursing and scuffling until they finally all made it out the door, Didymus forced to chase after them, steed-free.

"But a moment, my lady!" He trailed. "AMBROIOUS! UNGRATEFUL LACKEY!"

Sarah laughed, then stopped, her jaw twinging at the smile. _(God, I feel like a giant bruise still. I wonder if I look any better -)_

In the corner was a thin mirror, and she struggled to get out of bed, her limbs aching.

"Owowow. Ok, so not… Completely healed. But not half-bad, considering." _(Shit, though. Ow. I thought he healed me? Well - I mean, if he's restoring the castle, he's probably… Pretty drained of magic himself at this point, of course. Ok, right, so he probably needs to recharge until he can give me a boost or a hit or whatever. Plus a restoring a kingdom is more important than me and I'm mostly fine. Just a little sore, but I'll take it.)_

She limped to the mirror. Her clothes were clean and repaired and she was - well. She looked tired, but she'd take that over bloody, dirty, and tear-streaked. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to arrange the curls, which were puffy and had a mind of their own she quickly discovered, giving up the fight. But at least she looked… Alive. She thought about lying back down, but -

 _(Are they bringing him here? What's the correct way to meet Jar- to meet a newly restored King Jareth? Sitting? No, standing. Right?)_

 _(But then… Do I have to bow? I'm too sore to bow!)_

 _(I'm not going to bow! He's not - that's stupid! I'm not bowing to him!)_

 _(What should I do? I'm not going to hug him -)_

 _(Shake his hand? No, that's -)_

"I specifically gave orders that you were to remain _resting."_

Sarah twisted around, the spin throwing her off-balance, and she fell sideways onto the bed. Her heart skipped, jumping in her chest. "Holy fu-"

"Steady." Jareth stepped from the shadows, reaching forward to help her as she arranged herself awkwardly, attempting (and failing) to look causal. He smiled, mismatched eyes gleaming in the golden light. "Hello, Sarah."

"You - the - I -" There was too much, all at once. What should she say? Where should she start? Where _could_ she start?

 _(Hey man, good to see you. Also what the fuck, where did you go/why did you ditch me/is this Reality?)_

She paused, and was suddenly horrified to feel tears prickling at the back of her eyes. _(Oh my god. No. Stop that! He's real, he's here, and so am I. We survived. He's here, he didn't disappear, I'm not home alone, and I did it. Come on, Williams! Sober up!)_ She cleared her throat, avoiding his gaze, blinking away the idiotic wetness. _(Be relieved or overwhelmed or whatever this is later! Not now! Not in front of him!)_ "I -"

Her words suddenly seemed to clog in her throat, and -

 _(Don't - don't_ cry! _He's back! He's here! It's fine!)_

"We don't have much time before those buffoons return." He twisted elegantly, sitting beside her, long legs stretched out past hers. He was close, very close, almost touching her, and she scooted back slightly, one hand resting between them, unable to follow the rest of her. She lifted it, an inch off the bed, hesitating.

 _(I need to - touch him. I want to feel - to make sure he's real -…_

 _Don't go -)_

Her hand hovered.

 _(But what if he's not real? What if it's… An illusion, and I didn't win, and when I reach forward -)_

"I wanted to -" He started.

" _Saaaaawwwaaaaaaah!"_ The call sounded from outside, winding from down the hall.

 _"_ _Blast."_ He stood, a swirl of cape, her hand still frozen, outstretched to where he'd been. "Soon. I assume _they_ wish to interrogate and bore you at length, and I have some matters to attend to. A kingdom to raise, and so on. You understand."

His eyes trailed over her face, seeing her paralyzed expression, and arm. He stared at her hand for a fraction of a moment, then snatched it up, warm fingers swallowing hers, held in his grip. Sarah stared at his very real and very solid hand, a jolt sweeping up through her.

 _(Real. He's real. He's back and he's here and I won.)_

"I just wanted to see, with my own eyes, that you were well - enough. I'll - we'll - talk later. Privately. I daresay you have questions to my answers. I healed you as much as you - as I could. In the meantime, _rest."_ He winked at her, a slight smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, part mischievous, part unbridled mirth. And he darted her fingers up to his lips, brushing them against his, a warm ghost of a laugh whispering over her skin.

 _(Oh -)_ "What -"

He was gone. Her hand fell through the air, where his had been seconds ago. _(Wait -)_

"What -" She said again, her vocabulary selectively and suddenly limited.

Ludo, Hoggle and Didymus burst into the room, tumbling over each other.

"Said he's very busy -"

"He'll get to ya later -"

"Sawaah reeeaaaaasssst!"

They finally clambered into the room, Hoggle wheezing slightly, doubled over at the knees. Sarah blinked as they crowded around her, all trying to explain at once that Jareth was busy and would remain busy but she should wait and sleep and -

She let themselves talk, enjoying the noise. Eventually they calmed down, only to demand again that she rest, but also tell them what had happened, preferably at the same time. Sarah smiled, and took a deep breath, trying to begin to recall. She started at the first passage, so long ago it felt, her voice growing stronger as she spoke, through the books, the orchard, the mushrooms, the mirrors, the well, the crystals, poppies, gold, Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, the clocks…

"Ok so remember - Momotaro - that's the clue, remember that, it's important for the next bit because then I… Fell into the ruins, and then… I didn't know what to do! Nothing happened! I thought I needed to, like, jump or something, but before I did, I emptied my bag, and the peach was still in there!"

They gasped, the perfect captivated audience.

She grinned. "And so… I opened it, and there was a pit inside, and it was like - the acorn cap, like the mirror you gave me, Hoggle. Remember?"

"My mirror? That weren't mine."

"Jareth said -"

"Was my _idea_." He puffed out his chest proudly. "Thought ya needed a better mirror for us gettin' through. But Jareth _made_ it, with the designs and all."

"I _knew_ it!" _(I fucking knew it! That liar. No, that - truth - twister - whatever.)_ Sarah felt her smile flush into a triumphant grin, and she tried to calm it into something less excited. _(I was right though. I knew it. He made it for me. Whatever.)_ She smoothed the bed sheets. _(It doesn't really matter, I guess. I don't care that much.)_

 _(Not really. At all. Just a little.)_

"Oh. Well. Jareth told me it was yours." Sarah replied in what she hoped was a dignified manner.

"He would. He wadn't sure ya'd accept it from 'im, Sarah. "

"I -" She thought, then shut her mouth. _(I might not have, I suppose. Hmph. Well, it IS a bit creepy to give a girl a traveling portal mirror.)_

 _(Says the person who was over the moon when she found out he'd made it for her not 30 seconds ago -)_

 _(Quiet, you.)_ She snapped at the last part of her brain before composing herself. "Anyways, I…" _(Had a minor panic attack/complete breakdown about the possibility of never seeing you all again -)_ "I - I realized the peach pit was from Momotaro! But I didn't have a knife, so I used my pen to kind of, like, pry it open? And it worked, obviously!" She gestured around.

"And in that moment thus the magic was restored! A great light poured forth and the Labyrinth settled, once again back to it's glorious former self!" Sir Didymus proclaimed and they nodded in unison. Sarah leaned back, tired but beaming, one hand in Hoggle's, the other alternating between petting Didymus, Ambrocious and Ludo's thick fur.

"Whilst you were gone, let me tell you about what hath transposed in the days of murky -" Didymus began, drawing in a long breath to prepare.

"She don't wanna hear 'bout it!" Hoggle snapped.

"Ludo _saaaaddd_ -"

"She will! 'Twas a dark and gloomy time! As Ludo hath proclaimed, all were devastated and morbid, my lord Jareth swishing about with the mood of an angry avian -"

"Skip past all that!"

"Stop telling me how to tell the _lore!_ " Didymus whacked Hoggle, who responded by pulling his tail. A minor riot ensued around her knees and feet and Sarah grinned, drifting away to the sound of her friends.

She slept deeply, waking after what could have been hours or minutes, the light outside still a comforting hazy glow. Didymus slept on her legs, Hoggle and Ludo sitting on the floor or leaning against the bed. She looked around, stiffly, something had called her out of sleep, some inhuman noise….

 _Screeeeeeeech!_

She turned towards the window. An owl sat, staring at her. Sarah gulped involuntarily.

"I -"

The room dissolved around her, and she fell into an upright position, her stiff knees buckling with only a moderate amount of soreness under her sudden weight.

"Ow! Hey! What -" She looked around, peering into a suddenly darkened room. Odd shapes were isolated in the shadows, glimmering slightly.

"Rested enough?"

Sarah jumped and spun around, her heart pounding. He was human now, - well - he was elf - he was less owl. That was the important part.

"You can't just magic me -"

"And yet I did." He waved his hand and the room lit up in a blue glow, the shapes illuminated to… Trinkets. Bit of sparkly things, metallic instruments and crystals, some jewelry, scattered about and hanging on pedestals, or a few just simply floating in the air.

But her eyes found their way back to his, and he looked… Better. Taller. Healthier, the smile on his lips finally reaching his eyes, his hair layered and long and shining with feathers and glossiness. His eyes did that thing - that spark, that dark… Flash.

A king. Powerful and magical and regal, staring at her with crossed arms, his proud face and tall body observing her bent and aching form.

He looked every inch the part too, she noticed. Dark purple fabric, so inky it was almost black, covered and draped his long lean stance, the shoulders dripping in encrusted crystals. Not to mention the leather pants, carved and embossed with Celtic designs, and a cape that seemed to be made from feathery shadows itself because, well. It _was_ Jareth.

Jareth the Goblin King, completely real and restored to every inch of his glittery glory.

Sarah let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"You're…" _(Alive. Back. Here with me.)_ "Glad to see _you're_ feeling better." She tried.

"Sit." He pointed to a sudden chair next to her.

She jumped, painfully. "Stop disappearing and appearing - things!"

 _"_ _Sit."_

Sarah sat, slowly and reluctantly, biting back a groan of pain. He sauntered over, watching her.

"What?" She shot him a glance, trying to look normal. Cool. Collected.

"You still look… Unwell." He reached out his hand, pushing back her hair to feel her forehead. She shook it off, blushing at the warmth of his fingers.

Or maybe just his hand itself. She didn't know. She suddenly didn't feel rested at all, she felt nervous and hot and couldn't seem to meet his eyes. "I don't have a fever. And I just battled a Labyrinth by myself. Cut me some slack."

"You feel warm -"

"That's not - I'm -" Her blush deepened. "Whatever. I'm fine. I'm sitting. I'm here. Hi."

"Hello, Sarah Williams." He perched on the arm of the chair, smirking down at her.


End file.
